Pictures (clockwise from left): children at St Joseph's, Chelsea pinning leaves on a family tree c1980s; Fr Joe Caddy launching Family Week 2005; students from Thomas Carr College, Tarneit celebrate Family Week 2018.
In the late 1980s, Rosalie Cotter, the librarian at the Catholic Family Welfare Bureau (CFWB), wrote a paper chronicling the early years of the Bureau. The paper begins with Norma Parker and Constance Moffitt’s memo to Archbishop Mannix on professional social work, which would lead to the establishment of the first Catholic Social Service Bureau in Australia.
The rest is history, with people and programs coming and going. However, on reading Cotter’s paper, it is interesting to note that perhaps some things have not changed all that much.
Keeping families together
THEN: One of the initial tasks of the CFWB was to find a solution to ‘the overcrowding of children – many being wards of the State – in the nine Catholic institutions that existed at the time’. One of the enduring legacies of Parker and Moffitt was that Bureau social workers aimed to keep children out of institutions because ‘breaking up the family was not seen as a solution to what were essentially financial problems’. In 1976, the Bureau established ‘Family Friend’ (later renamed ‘The Family Support Service’); a home visiting service to assist families whose children were at risk of being taken into care.
NOW: CatholicCare continues to support and strengthen families to stay together. This is most evident in our Integrated Family Services which – not unlike the ‘Family Support service’ – provides intensive in-home support to vulnerable families, including those known to Child Protection Services. This service aims to increase parenting confidence and capacity, and strengthen family relationships so that children and young people can thrive in a safe and stable environment.
A training centre
THEN: Parker and Moffitt’s memo to Archbishop Mannix included a recommendation that the Bureau would become ‘a centre for practical training of student social workers’. From its earliest days, the Bureau was recognised as a training centre for the placement of students doing their social work practice.
NOW: CatholicCare continues to provide placements for social work and community development students. However, it is in our Schools Unit where CatholicCare truly excels as a training ground. The Schools Unit provides counselling for children at 83 schools and employs 37 qualified psychologists with specialisations in educational, clinical and counselling psychology. A key feature of the program is the annual placement of over 25 interns – psychology students who are required to complete a placement in order to become fully qualified and registered. Supported with a comprehensive training and supervision program, the interns are able to gain professional experience in clinical practice. Many have since secured employment with the Schools Unit upon receiving their qualification and registration and others go on to find employment in a number of positions within the community, having had a comprehensive placement experience within the CCAM Schools Unit.
The school’s unit prepares interns to work with children (from 5 to 18 years of age) the school community (teachers and principals) and the parents within the community. This training ensures a variety of experience that helps the interns work with a diverse range of presenting problems across different ages and stages. They are then ready to find work in hospitals, agencies, university counselling services, private practice and non-profit organisations.
Fundraising and school engagement
THEN: Cotter writes that in the late 1980’s, government grants were shrinking and the Bureau struggled to achieve financial stability. Newer, innovative sources of funding were sought, including the establishment of a Mailing House and, in what would be far more enduring: school fundraising and engagement. ‘Family Week’ commenced in 1986, with Catholic schoolchildren participating in fundraising activities such as lap-a-thons.
NOW: Thirty four years later, schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Diocese of Sale are still celebrating Family Week each year. CatholicCare continues to provide curriculum, liturgical and fundraising resources to help schools celebrate the importance of families as the building blocks of a healthy society. This year, with Family Week celebrated during lockdown, schools turned to online activities to celebrate.
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