Media Statements - Accessibility of family and parent support services for men will be investigated [Audio]

24/8/99

The accessibility of family and parent support services for men will be investigated by a committee that met for the first time today.

Family and Children’s Services Minister Rhonda Parker set up the committee following concerns that men were not fully accessing the counselling and other support services provided or funded by the Department of Family and Children’s Services throughout the state.

“The review will examine if these services are sufficiently responsive to men and address their particular needs,” Mrs Parker said.

The terms of reference for the committee are:

inquire into the relevance and accessibility of Family and Children’s Services family and parent support services (including FCS funded services) for male family members;

evaluate the level of utilisation of these services by men, the extent to which the services include men in all aspects of service delivery, the approachability (geniality) of the services for men and men’s perception of the services they receive; and -

recommend best practice processes that will result in the department’s family and parent support services being delivered more effectively for men.

The committee is chaired by Agricultural Region MLC Murray Nixon and includes WACOSS Executive Director Shawn Boyle, a community participant from Wongan Hills Irene Hooper, the Chief Executive of the Livingstone Foundation Newland Hutchinson, Sheridan Webb of the Noongar Land Council and as Executive Officer, Harold Luxton of Family and Children’s Services.

“The committee will also consider the accessibility of family and parent support services in rural areas in the context of indigenous men and suicide among young men in isolated rural communities,” Mrs Parker said.

The chairperson of the Family and Children’s Advisory Council, Mrs Ruth Reid AM, has welcomed the inquiry.

She said a recent Council report on Family and Children’s Services’ Positive Parenting Campaign recommended market research be undertaken to find out why fathers are not using existing Parent Information Centres and to identify barriers to the use of the services.

The committee will consult widely, in particular in rural Western Australia, and intends to present its report to the Minister after four months.

Media contact: Owen Cole 9481 7810

There are real concerns about men not accessing services funded by Family and Children's Services and this review will look at why this is so (12secs/260kb)