Case Studies
A single father was referred to our Family Intervention Service with a 7-year-old son living in Out of Home Care. This family had been going through many challenges and were unable to access the much-needed preventative support. They were brought to the attention of Child Safety. Due to concerns about dad’s emotional regulation, physical discipline, domestic violence and mental health.
At the start of the intervention, this little boy was frightened of his father due to his past experiences. Extensive work was done with the dad to learn positive parenting strategies, emotional regulation skills and to rebuild the bond between father and son. During home visits and group programs at Inala Community House, the father was upskilled using frameworks including Triple P parenting, Zones of Regulation, Tuning into Kids, Dads Under Construction and emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills.
The little boy was successfully reunified to his father’s care after he demonstrated genuine changes, and the father was now able to recognise and meet his sons’ emotional and physical care needs.
The father worked with us for over a year and now remains engaged with a community Men’s Group, where he accesses continued support from other men. He is keen to study to be a peer support worker to share the lessons he learnt and give back to others.
Our Family Intervention Service worked with a mum on three separate occasions to reunify her children but closed on the first two occasions with little forward progress. When her case reopened for the third time, she had given birth to her fourth child. Mum was determined to do whatever was required to keep this baby and have her older children return to her care.
She demonstrated incredible motivation and resilience to overcome significant personal challenges. She grappled with significant loss and grief. She was recovering from addiction and had been disempowered by her intimate partner relationship and service systems.
It was also remarkable that this mum was able to manage the endless demands of four spirited children and run the household. She was supported to upskill her parenting through several Inala Community House courses and also received practical support to transition her children back home. Since making these changes, this mum has rebuilt her life, and she continues to stay connected through our community engagement activities.
