2007 Social Justice Forum

Social Justice ForumSaturday 13 October 2007

the individual

the family

2 | St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria Inc.

Mission Statement

The mission of the St Vincent de PaulSociety in Australia is to deepen theCatholic faith of its members and to go outinto our nation to heighten awareness ofJesus Christ.

We do this by sharing ourselves – who weare, and what we have – with people inneed on a person-to-person basis. Weseek to co-operate in shaping a more justand compassionate Australian community,and to share our resources with ourtwinned countries.

Our preferred option in this mission ofservice is to work with people indevelopment by respecting their dignity,sharing our hope and encouraging them totake control of their own destiny.


Social Justice Committee | 3

Contents

Mission Statement 2

Agenda 4

From the State President 5

Spiritual Reflection | The Good Samaritan 6

Introduction 8

Session 1: What are low-income families’most pressing needs? 9

Session 2: How can conferences help meetthese needs? 12

Session 3: Networking 18

Judgement vs Judgemental 21




Agenda9.00 am Registration

9.30 am Opening prayers, spiritual reflection

9.45 am Welcome and opening - Jim Grealish, State President

9.50 am Introduction to Social Justice Forum 2007

10.00 am Session 1: What are low-income families’ most pressing needs?

Introduction, followed by group discussions to identify and list main areas of need for low-income families

Assignment of priority to identified needs (top 4 or 5)

11.00 am Morning break

11.20 am Session 2: How can conferences help meet these needs?

Introduction, following by group discussion to consider conference actions to meet the identified main needs of low-income families, including ways conferences can increase skills in doing so

12.30 pm Lunch

1.10 pm Session 2: Summary of findings

1.20 pm Session 3: Networking

Brief presentation of the meaning of networking, and how in general terms “networks” can augment the assistance which a conference can give. Case Study

Open dialogue on

Specific netwok contacts which are likely to be appropirate for each of the main family needs

Examples of successful networking from conference experience

Building and maintaining networks within the conference

2.30 pm Wrap-up and summary of Forum findings

3.00 pm Closure and prayers



From the State PresidentThank you all for coming from far and wide to attend the 2007 Social JusticeForum. Your commitment to the cause of justice issues is outstanding.

Your work encompasses the empowerment of people and giving them a hand-up. For this I congratulate you and especially Tony Dalton, Chair of the SocialJustice Committee for his leadership.

What is really pleasing is the number of conferences with Social JusticeOfficers. As well as dealing with macro issues, it is important to help people atlocal level. This is where immediate improvements in lifestyle can be made.

I am pleased the theme of this forum is "The Family | The Individual". InCatholic theology, the family is the prime and pre-eminent unit of Society. Infact, family equals the Domestic Church.

Today threats to family are many and great. Today, families are put underterrible pressures, economically, psychologically, socially and morally.

Many groups seek to distort the meaning of the word family as they pursuetheir own selfish purposes. So whatever we can do to restore the family to itsproper role will be a blessing to the whole community.

There is a cyclical quality in today's situation. Dysfunctional individualscontribute to dysfunctional families, which in turn produce more dysfunctionalindividuals.Again, I congratulate you on your commitment to the beatitude of justice and Ilook forward to hearing the outcomes of this forum.

Jim Grealish

Pictured (ltor): John O’Brien, Jillian Ryan,Jim Grealish and Tony Tome




Spiritual Reflection: The Good Samaritan

As Vincentians we live and work with people who seem to be imprisoned in their Ifresentments and the circumstances of their lives. Christ sends us forth into homesand neighbourhoods where it is all too easy to cultivate prejudice towards thosewho are different. We are missioned to a society in which human life is threatenedin all its stages from conception to natural death. We witness the weak andvulnerable of our society passed by time and again.

The compassionate gaze of Christ is offered to people today through our eyes.Christ takes our hands and uses them to tend the wounds of those who lay by theroadside in our world.

Christ the Good Samaritan acts through you as we learn how to be a neighbour tothose around us.

Henri Nouwen reminds us that "Compassion asks us to go to where it hurts, toenter into places of pain, to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable,powerless with the powerless."

To be compassionate is to do what God does - stand in solidarity with those whosuffer.

Compassion happens when we allow God's energy to be released in us when wesee someone beaten by the roadside and we take on some of that pain. We lift thepain through our care. We reach out to become part of God's healing, God'scompassion.

People can be captives in many ways.

People who are the victims of trafficking in persons are literally captives.

We can also be captives in less obvious ways.

We can be slaves to materialism, consumerism, selfishness or ideology.

God's love as exemplified in the Good Samaritan liberates us from these falsegods.

God loves each one of us no matter what we own, what we wear, how we look orhow we vote. We find meaning and direction by responding to God's love by lovingGod and our neighbours.

the world is to change in line with the vision of Jesus, we must go immeasurablyfurther than comfortable, selective compassion.



Ultimately, Jesus is calling forconversion where we identify with theones we reach out to, not from aposition of patronising andcondescending superiority, but one ofgenuine solidarity.

This is a change, not of behaviour, butof perspective - the recognition thatbefore God all persons share an equaldignity, and together stand powerlesslybefore God, sharing the non-negotiable need for God's mercy.

From this standpoint compassion mostpowerfully serves to build up thekingdom of God. We don't have to beliterally blind not to see.

There are things we would rather notsee, and we may even turn our headsin order not to see. Jesus calls us tosee the world with his eyes.

Do we see each other as sisters andbrothers in Jesus?

Do we see the spark of the divine in each and every other person?

If we see things this way, we will naturally want to work towards the good of everyperson and of every group in our society.

At the end of the story Jesus simply says:

"Go and do likewise. Love God and love your neighbour.Take care of those in need. Take a risk to offer helpEven take care of those who belong to a different group from you.”

There is no other way to make compassion effective than to follow Christ'scommand "Go and do likewise". For in the end, it is God who lies by the roadsidestripped and beaten and waiting for me!


Introduction

The program for today's Social Justice Forum has been designed to focus ourattention on issues which confront families who are experiencing need ordisadvantage, and come to us for assistance.

These issues involve the circumstances not only of the family as a group, but alsoof the individual members of the family - the mother, the father and especially thechildren.

Sometimes issues arise because either the mother or the father are no longer partof the family group - nevertheless, the circumstances of the missing partner canimpact on the circumstances of the group - for better or more often, for worse.

It is unfortunately a fact that when a family group is in trouble, those mostadversely affected are the children. If a family continues for any length of time incircumstances of disadvantage, the children will almost certainly themselves sufferdisadvantage in their own lives, both at present and in their adult years.

When we visit families as conference members, we need to be aware of the family,not just as a single entity, but also as individuals - we need to tailor our assistanceas far as possible to provide for the individuals as such, as well as for the group asa whole.

This is not always easy, and today we hope that by talking our way through thesituation, as conference members at the coal face as it were, we can helpourselves understand and define the special issues which come up in family visits,find effective ways to deal with them, and in particular, see how best we can steerparents in families towards the specialist services they may need to help break outof the cycle of disadvantage - how they and their children can gain access to allthe opportunities normally offered by the Australian community to its members.




Session 1: What are low-income families’ most pressing needs?

We all meet families in our conference work - and, over time, as we build up ourrelationships with them, we get to find out about their circumstances.

Using our experience with families as members, what do we see as the areaswhere they are most in need of assistance - not just from us, but from the rest ofthe community in which they live - schools, shops, doctors, whatever??

For example - and I can quote this one because it always seems to come up asthe top priority whenever we in the Social Justice Committee review these things,affordable, secure housing.

In any list of needs priorities we might put together, affordable housing will be No.1. But there are many others, and the aim of our first session is to build a list ofthese needs, and then somehow agree on which are the four or five mostimportant.

Remember, we are talking about our actual conference experience, try to avoidhypothetical situations!

The Process

Each table should elect a reporter, to take notes on the findings and report theseback to the meeting at the end of the discussion period.

For Session 1, we would like you to list the issues for 15 minutes - then we'll takethe reports. The idea is just to put a name on the needs, not to go into deepdiscussion of importance etc., just enough discussion to keep the listed items welldefined and distinct from one another. The reporter notes should be limited simplyto the list of topics which the table has identified

We will score multiple listings as we go along, and once the lists are collated, wewill then try together to identify priorities . We will have time later in the day forfuller discussion on the those topics which we have identified as of highimportance.



Session 1: Findings

Issues identified by the forum attendees as important for families in need - no orderof priority but collated into convenient groups.

Financial Income/expenditure stressEssentials - utilities (gas, electricity, energy efficiency) DroughtFoodUse of loans, availability of creditFinancial counseling/budgetingTransport - private, publicSetting spending priorities

Health DentalSpiritualMental heathDrug and alcoholDomestic violenceBulk billing

Centrelink Case workersInadequate Centrelink incomeHow payments are allocatedCentrelink processesCentrepay

Housing Accommodation MortgagePublic housingLack of affordable rentalsEmergency accommodationSecurity of tenureUpfront fees, bonds, etc.

Education University costsEarly yearsSchool, fees and leviesChild care costsSchool costsComputers, other aids, IT equipment, operation and

associated costs



Social Inclusion Spiritual supportDespondencyBelonging and social interactionsSocial skills knowledgeFamily counselingBasic personal skillsCommunity services or resources and availabilityIncentives/disincentivesPersonal needsDepressionIsolationLegal servicesRecreation needs and opportunitiesEmotional supportSafe environmentRights and entitlementsParenting skills Home management skills

Other issues raised:

Does the Society help enough to lift people out of poverty?

Availability of furniture/electrical applicances?

Vouchers for petrol and other goods?

Pictured (ltor):Noela Smith andTony Feain


Session 2: How can conferences help meet these needs?

We now have a "short list" of low-income families' most pressing needs.

In the next session, we want to think about two elements of this list, within thecontext of the conference.

Firstly, what are the specific things which conferences can do to help familiessatisfy these needs:

What action can be taken by the conference itself?

What actions can be recommended by the conference for the family to take itself?

What community or other services can the conference suggest the family contact?

Secondly, what can conferences do to increase their ability to provide this help tofamilies:

What extra resources could we use?

What additional knowledge would be useful?

Do we need more authority to act?

Findings

Centrelink issues (2 groups)Centrelink clients must be put on benefits smartly. 8 week delay should be cut to perhaps 1 or 2 weeks.

Period of grace be given for government rental between being unemployed and employed. Society Head Office to advocate with Centrelink/Govt.

Centrelink agents seem to give clients jobs that are unsuitable and which client eventually leaves. The agent gets commission every time they start a new job. Some pressure should be put on agent to find a satisfactory job forclient rather on client.

Conference to seek advice from Gavin Dufty or Phillip at the call centre.

Conference should get to know the manager at the local Centrelink office and call them for advice/help re client difficulties with Centrelink problems.

Conference should realise that quite often Centrelink are told only half the problem by their clients and therefore cannot help as much as they could




otherwise. Our clients should be advised to tell Centrelink the whole story.

Conference should sit down with people and discuss the specific issues, with the Government’s payments booklet with them.

Conference should determine what the person is getting, and what he/she is entitled to according to the circumstances. (Parenting Allowance, Casual Worker change in hours and income - 6 weeks delay in paper work.)

Conference should advocate on behalf of person, representing them with Centrelink.

Conference should introduce person at Centrelink, travelling with the personif necessary to make sure that the service is actually accessed.

Conference should help families complete Centrelink forms, and ensure thatthey are taken to the Centrelink office in a timely manner.

If any concern with Centrelink ruling (eg not receiving expected entitlements), conference should advise the family to go to the original decision-maker and ask for a "review of the decision".

Conference should help families with their Centrelink appointment calendar, especially where there are health, language or other abnormal difficulties.

Level of service suburbs versus city.

Delay between application and commencement of payments.

Hardship caused by breaching.

Hardship caused by the Welfare-to-Work reforms.

Carer's benefit inadequate, and difficult to qualify for.

Indexing of pensions not keeping up with costs.

Pictured (ltor): Ann Magee, Maree Stewart, Sr Rosemary Graham



Education (2 groups)

School uniform program - voucher system in Bendigo based on headmasterrecommendations.

Indirect assistance to allow payment of school fees.

Negotiating fee reduction with Principal.

Incentives to look after school items.

Use of EMA.

One-off grant for primary and secondary schools.

State Schools' Relief Committee.

Education grant - pick up costs not covered by government payments.

University books/levies - disadvantaged students.

Kinder fees - support.

Excursions and camps - supported by Bendigo conference.

Breakfast programs in disadvantaged areas.

Conferences can help family develop home skills.

Conferences can network with schools and fundraise to help with uniforms, camps, books (including secondhand).

Conference can provide back-to-school assistance.

Conferences should liaise with local school principals and teachers.

Conferences can make referrals for self-education in families.

Conferences can provide assistance with excursions, sports activities and books.

Conference can assist with payment for school photos.

Living away from home allowance.

Help families accept assistance from Welfare and Social workers.

Assist a Student program.

Chaplain



Accommodation and Housing (2 groups)

Identify and document occurrences of housing stress.

Approach local bodies - othercharities, small businesses ie motels

Develop general public advocacy for both short and long term needs - through parishes, local newspapers, local politicians.

Explore low-cost housing options - decommissioned portable class-rooms, with government assistance.

Get into political advocacy with Democrats, Family First, minority parties and independents. Provide case studies.

Expand/extend case studies to scenarios and trends - workshop with other areas in this way.

Maintain a persistent message.

Be radical, as was Jesus, and as are our gospel, and living out the gospel.

Conferences should support empowerment of families.

Conferences should get to know local networks and housing support services and use them.

Advocate on behalf of families with the Office of Housing, local members of parliament, landlords and estate agents.

Co-operate with local government programs such as "Healthy Connected Communities" in the City of Bayside.

Assist with arrears - utilities, bond payments, mortgages.

Help with information - encouragement to use financial counsellors to deal with issues putting someone at risk of homelessness (eg debt cancellation.)

Continue to provide day-to-day material and practical support.

Help family apply for specific purpose grants - local government, state government, community.

Pictured: Dulcie Torr



Household costs, management and budgeting (2 groups)

Provide practical support - food, bills, clothing, furniture.

Provide information/referrals on how to make house more energy efficient (eg Kildonnan Family services).

Mentoring, helping family with household budgeting and family home skills.

Encourage use of easy-pay or Centrepay systems for utilities.

Encourage to apply for capital grant for more energy efficient appliances.

Conferences can team up to provide necessary skills to meet particular family needs.

Conferences can develop relationships with tradespeople (eg plumbers) and professionals (eg legal services), who can be accessed by families for low-cost effective services.

Provide basic budgeting help -interact with family input.

Conference can organise information sessions - presentations by mothers, domestic operators, etc. sharing stories on cheaper groceries, cleaning costs, household management, domestic and social skills, government and other resources which provide help for families.

Conferences can undertake member development to provide better assistance to families.

Conferences should assist family to organise bill payment strategies, in conjunction with external organisations where appropriate.

Pictured (ltor): Damian Vella, George Lawson, Bill Smolemaars



Health Issues (1 group)

Bulk billing availability too limited.

Conference can develop data on areas not coping with mental health needsbecause services overloaded.

Conference can use this data to apply pressure to local and higher governments for improvement.

Conference members should be educated and encouraged to refer families to other organisations and resources in the community.

School health programs, including dental health, hygiene and diet, should be encouraged. Advocacy by the Society is indicated.

Dental care waiting lists are a major problem. Advocacy called for.

Conferences can pay for emergency dental treatment if necessary.

The Society should maintain a program of education for members on healthproblems associated with disadvantage - mental health (including depression), substance abuse (including alcohol), domestic violence, sexualassault victims.

Social Inclusion (1 group)

Encourage development of Compeer program.

Foster kid camps, roadshows, outings, excursions, movie trips.

Organise 'Pamper Days' in areas of widespread distress (eg drought areas).

Support by various means, including financial, access to local sporting facilities such as swimming pools, sports clubs,

Promote community sponsorship for social groups and facilities eg parenting groups, mens' workshop, etc.

Compile and promulgate local directories of community support services and facilities.

Refer family to appropriate community resources where inclusion can occur eg craft groups, gardening groups, walking groups, etc.

Liaison with Centrecare



Session 3: Networking

This session set out to identify what pre-existing networking might helpconferences with the suggested actions raised during the previous session.

Session 3 was divided into four parts:

1) Discussion around "what is networking?"

2) Examples of successful conference networking including case study

3) Building and maintaining effective networks

4) Tools for conference networking

"What is networking?” focused on the fact that the Society’s volunteers cannot, byourselves, solve all the problems of everyone seeking assistance.

And when being compassionate and offering a 'listening' ear, we can often identifythe underlying problems ie beyond the food parcel or voucher, and it is throughnetworking that we greatly expand the level of assistance available.

Many examples of successful networking were raised by conferences from aroundVictoria, and these were also related in various cases to those listed duringSession 2.

CASE STUDY: IT'S WHO YOU KNOW!

A lady in her fifties, living in Central Victoria, was employed on aregular but casual basis. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer, andafter an operation, was discharged to her home. She faced a longconvalescence.

When she applied to Centrelink for a Disability Pension, she wasadvised that it would be seven weeks before she received her firstpayment.

Ineligible for sick pay because of the casual employment, with noincome, and in desperate circumstances, the lady was referred by afriend to a St Vincent de Paul Society conference.

The conference, as well as providing food and care, enquired atCentrelink on behalf of the lady, actually making contact twice withthe Centrelink office. Each time they were told that payment could notbe made sooner.



A phone call was made to the Federal Member's office, which, onenquiry with Centrelink, was advised that Centrelink had actuallycancelled the application for Disability Pension because the lady'sformer employer had not responded to Centrelink's request forinformation. The cancellation had been made without any advice tothe lady.

However, the intervention by the MP's office resulted in theapplication being re-instated. Further, the lady received her firstpension payment, and her Health Care card, within four days!

The segment on building and maintaining networks covered several options.

A number of useful tools for conference networking were presented and discussedin open dialogue.

Renting a Home (copies available on table at the door)..

Helping Australians in Financial Crisis

Commonwealth Directory of Services (copies available on table at the door).

Centrelink Contact List (already sent out to conferences).

National Community Services Contact List (Department of Family and Community Services)

A suggested effective method for using these tools was to:

a) Compile a reference/information manual in each conference (and region).

b) Arrange meetings with local staff associated with each component.

The basic components of a conference reference/information manual werediscussed:

'A guide to Australian Government payments' - from Centrelink

'A guide to confessions in Victoria' - Department of Human Services

'Right a wrong' - Victoria Legal Aid

'Child FIRST'/family services assistance details (including the new agency partnerships which provide integrated family services) - Department of Human ServicesLocal Councils assistance details, and those other community service organisations

Contact information for politicians (federal, state and local) - who can offer open doors and free up 'blockages'.



Other useful inserts mentioned for the information manual were papers, forexample 'SJ Speaking', issued by the St Vincent de Paul Society’s state office.Recent papers covered topics such as:

Telephone numbers of each utility company, to assist with hardship cases

Transitional housing managers, with details listed in geographical area

Contact list for Centrelink managers and senior social workers

During the conclusion of this session the advantage of Social Justice Officerswithin conferences (and regions) was highlighted.

In many conferences these officers maintain the directory of local resources andagencies, as well as the useful federal and state information.



Judgement vs Judgemental

Many conference members have difficulty with the distinction between "judgement"and "judgemental" - we know that we must always exercise judgement in ourconference work, but must NEVER be judgemental.

The Social Justice Committee received several requests to include discussion ofthis problem at the 2007 Forum.

After a considerable amount of research on the many articles written on thissubject by a variety of authors, the Committee has condensed what it believes tobe the essence of the distinction into a short comparative table, which waspresented to attendees at the Forum.

JUDGEMENTINFORMED, CONSIDERED DECISIONS BASED ON FACTS.

REFERENCE AGAINST GENERAL COMMUNITY STANDARDS.

ACCEPTANCE

JUDGEMENTALUNINFORMED, UN-CONSIDERED DECISIONS BASED ON ASSUMPTIONS.

REFERENCE AGAINST PERSONAL PERCEPTIONS.

CRITICISM



NOTES


“Yours must be a work of love, ofkindness, you must give yourtime, your talents, yourselves.

“The poor person is a uniqueperson of God’s fashioning withan inalienable right to respect.

“You must not be content withtiding the poor over the povertycrisis: You must study theircondition and the injustices whichbrought about such poverty, withthe aim of a long termimprovement.”

Blessed Frederic Ozanam1813-1853

St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria Inc. ABN: 28 911 702 061 43 Prospect Street, Box Hill Vic 3128Locked Bag 4800, Box Hill Vic 3128Phone: 03 9895 5800 Fax: 03 9895 5850Email: [email protected] Website: www.vinnies.org.au/vic

January 2008

Documents

2007 Social Justice Forum