annual report 2010 –2011 - Multicultural Development Association

Main client groups receiving settlement assistance
◗ ◗ Clients exiting detention
Intensive Support Services
◗ ◗ Clients exiting community determination
◗ ◗ Asylum seekers granted refugee status
◗ ◗ Clients arriving from offshore
◗ ◗ Humanitarian entrants who have been proposed
Continuing the journey
Continuing Settlement Services (CSS) provides casework support to humanitarian entrants up
to five years following arrival. Caseworkers work with clients to identify long-term settlement
aspirations. The focus is on supporting clients to use their strengths and to develop independence
through linkages to mainstream support services to assist them to achieve their goals.
Examples of the support services a caseworker might provide to clients include:
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assistance with letters and documents
linking to community activities
referral to support around tenancy issues
support and advocacy around securing suitable accommodation
linking with mainstream health, education and employment services
support and referral around family issues
referral to migration and legal advice
MDA’s Intensive Support Services (ISS) team offers support to a small number of clients with
exceptional needs which exceed the capacity of most services.
Our highly skilled ISS team provides critical support for complex casework, crisis intervention
and intensive intervention and prevention for clients from a refugee background with needs
around mental health, child safety, family breakdown, complex health, disability or difficulties
with settlement life skills. Support may be provided to clients for up to six months, with the
possibility of extension.
The ISS team addresses barriers—both personal and systemic—which prevent their clients’
successful settlement and focus on restoring a sense of hope and dignity.
The foremost strengths of complex case intervention are that it includes:
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crisis intervention
intensive support to address chronic and causal issues
capacity building to develop client skills and knowledge to enable greater self-determination
case coordination of multiple agency involvement
A recent increase in these complex cases is attributable to people exiting from long periods
of detention. At the start of the financial year there were 27 active cases with 52 referrals over
the year to June 2011. At the close of the year, 25 cases were ongoing.
Although this intensive, specially tailored work is resource intensive, it enables
many clients to eventually access mainstream services to continue their
settlement journey.
A handful of cases in regional areas have been managed through partnerships with local
services and the use of Cultural Support Workers.
In 2011 MDA and Queensland Program of Assistance to the Survivors of Torture and Trauma
(QPASTT) again partnered to develop and implement the ‘Building Stronger Families’ program
for MDA’s clients with complex needs. The group targeted parenting practices, including
alternative discipline strategies, child development, family fun and communication.
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