BCYF is an independent, not-for-profit community service organisation committed to achieving better outcomes for the community. They provide, develop and deliver services, where the need exists, that advance the rights and wellbeing of children, young people and their families.
Grace Jones Senior Caseworker - Building Healthy Relationships Team
Step Up – Building Healthy Relationships, is a voluntary program that was rolled out by Barwon, Child, Youth & Family (BCYF) in 2014 in the Barwon region (Geelong). It provides therapeutic, early intervention support for families where a young person was identified as using violence towards their parents/carers at home. The program supports such young people to develop skills and learn strategies to articulate their strong emotions and communicate in a safe and respectful way. It seeks to understand the adolescent in the context of their family, school and community and supports their safety and stability in the home.
The original Step-Up program supports young people from the ages of 12-17, alongside their parent/carers and family. The modified version of Step Up now caters to 10- and 11-year-old children too.
Step Up is funded to provide support to 100 families per financial year and there are 8 caseworkers within the program.
The key elements of the program are:
Partners:
Step Up is delivered by Barwon, Child, Youth & Family (BCYF) and The Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre (SAFV Centre). BCYF partnered with Deakin University (Geelong) to conduct a study and evaluation that enabled the age expansion of the program and included 10- and 11-year-old children.
In 2018, BCYF identified a gap in the existing Step-Up model as it did not support 10 and 11-year-old children. Even though these children were eligible for support relating to their use of violence in the home, the existing age criteria of Step Up was 12 and above, which placed the younger ones on a wait list. Therefore, to better support an early intervention model, BCYF decided to invest in adapting and expanding the program to meet the needs of this younger cohort.
BCYF’s research team partnered with Deakin University, and the resulting literature review provided a roadmap for adaptations. The review identified strategies and supported the inclusion of modifying the validated assessment tools to work with 10 and 11-year-old children.
These adaptations allowed for gathering more detailed information which supported delivery of targeted and age-appropriate interventions.
The Step-Up program needed to be adapted for the younger cohort. The existing Step-Up program already took a child rights approach which ensures that children are holders of rights, are entitled to safety and stability, can enjoy positive wellbeing and development, and feel their voices are heard. This approach was implemented using the following practice principles:
Two theoretical frameworks further complemented these principles:
When Deakin University team did the literature review to inform the age expansion of the program, it suggested the implementation of several strategies that would complement the existing practice model and make it suitable for the younger cohort. These strategies include:
These strategies were therefore added to the existing model and adapted version was then rolled out for all age groups, including the 10-and-11-year olds.
The developmental evaluation of the revised program reported on success rates based on the team’s observations:
A limitation of the evaluation is that there was no long term follow-up to assess the impact of the adaptations. Therefore, there is no data to conclude whether the intervention effects lasted over time.
The adapted version of the program will continue to delivered in Barwon and has reinforced the need to deliver it to support 10-11 year olds.
To know more about the current work happening in the program, contact grace.jones@bcyf.org.au
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