Vulnerable families in St George will now be supported by a new family and child restoration service that was opened this week by the Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward.
The Uniting Newpin centre in Hurstville will offer support to parents through an intensive child protection and parent education program for families under stress.
Newpin stands for New Parent and Infant Network and is targeted at parents whose children have been removed from their care.
Parents who take part in the program must have at least one child younger than six who has been in out-of-home care for at least three months or who is at risk of entering care.
Parents work together with their children and specialist staff every week for 18 months, addressing the issues which led to the removal of their children and learning how to be effective parents.
Ms Goward said that families have received life-changing support under the Newpin program.
“Newpin helps break the cycle of destructive relationships and supports families to live together safely,” she said.
Under the program, Uniting Newpin works with families to inspire good parenting and encourage positive parent-child relationships by raising the self-esteem of individual parents.
The new Hurstville centre is the eighth Newpin centre in NSW, joining those in Bidwill, St Marys, Doonside, Ingleburn, Port Kembla, Wyong and Lambton.
“Since 2013, just over 200 children have been safely restored to the care of their parents in decisions independently approved by the NSW Children’s Court. The program has prevented a further 55 families from having children enter out-of-home care,” Ms Gowad said.
“Almost two-thirds of children whose families undergo the program are restored safely to their parents. These results are a significant achievement given the complex challenges faced by faced by families when they start the program.”
Newpin is a partnership between the Department of Community Services, NSW Treasurer, Uniting and Social Ventures Australia.
“Four years ago, this diverse group came together to resource Newpin through an innovative funding model called a Social Benefit Bond, in which investors put financial support behind a program which delivers a positive outcome for society,” Ms Goward said.
According to the DOCS website, social benefit bond (SBB) is a financial instrument that pays a return based on the achievement of agreed social outcomes. Under a SBB, investors fund the delivery of services targeted at improving a particular social outcome. Achievement of this outcome should reduce the need for, and therefore government spending on, acute services. Part of the resultant public sector savings are then used to repay investors’ principal and make additional reward payments (the return on investment), the level of which is dependent on the degree of outcome improvement achieved.
“At the time, it was Australia’s first Social Benefit Bond but it swiftly attracted the support of investors with a $7 million bond raised to guarantee the expansion of Newpin,” Ms Goward said.
“Since then, the Social Benefit Bond funding model has been applied to similar programs which have positive social impact. As well as delivering financial returns for investors, Newpin has delivered priceless dividends for the families who successfully complete the program,” she said.