A unique peer-to-peer support model leveraging lived experiences is bringing about positive changes for families currently experiencing challenges or crises.
Participants in the Family by Family program had a 44 per cent relative reduction in risk of children being placed in out-of-home care up to two years after exiting the model.
The findings are outlined in a new report by the Adelaide University’s BetterStart Group from the School of Public Health.
Family by Family was co-designed by South Australian families and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI) in 2010, and connects families who have overcome tough times, referred to as ‘sharing families’, with those currently in difficult situations, or ‘seeking families’.
It is a peer-to-peer network of “families helping families”; two families link up for up to 30 weeks, with the sharing family helping to set goals, develop strategies and build confidence in the seeking family, with the assistance of trained support staff.
The program is delivered in South Australia by Uniting Communities and is funded by the South Australian government.
TACSI partnered with the BetterStart Group in 2018 to explore the best way to demonstrate high-quality evidence of long-term impact.
By integrating the Family by Family data into BetterStart’s Better Evidence Better Outcomes Linked Data (BEBOLD) platform – a whole population de-identified linked data asset – the team, led by Group Co-Director, Associate Professor Rhiannon Pilkington, was able to compare outcomes for more than 57,900 families and 100,000 children (aged 17 years and under) residing in the same South Australian suburbs from 2014 to 2022.
“Our analysis was conducted over two phases; first we looked at the characteristics of the families who participated in the program, which gave TACSI a greater understanding of those involved,” said Associate Professor Pilkington.
“Then we examined a variety of outcomes for the children 12 and 24 months from program start, compared to a similar group who didn’t participate.
“We found in the two years prior to joining the program, the seeking families were more likely to have had at least one parent with a history of child protection contact during their own childhood, or experienced one or more mental health-related emergency department presentations or hospitalisations.”
Looking at the 24 months after the start of the program, researchers found a six per cent relative reduction in the risk of children presenting to an emergency department in families.
“We found the Family by Family program was engaging families experiencing significantly higher and more complex needs than the general population,” said Associate Professor Pilkington.
“Around one in four children lived in families with histories of child protection, alcohol and drug misuse, and homelessness.
“The high levels of complexity faced by families in the Family by Family program highlights it is possible for peer-to-peer models of family support to successfully engage with families with significantly higher and more complex needs than the general population.
“This also reinforces the importance of designing family support programs that are responsive, flexible, and trauma informed.”
TACSI Co-CEO Chris Vanstone said the innovative approach of partnering with the BetterStart team to evaluate the program removed the challenges of a randomised control trial.
“We now know that Family by Family is doing exactly what it was designed to do: enable more families to thrive and fewer to come into contact with state-provided crisis services,” he said.
“The outcomes of Family by Family are a real demonstration of the power and potential of peer-to-peer programs to change lives.
“Peer-to-peer programs deserve proper policy attention - to further build the evidence base and support take-up across sectors.”