Annual Report

2011

Our Agency

Mission, Vision, Principles, Acknowledgement 5

Governance and Management 6

Organisation Structure 8

Staff Profile 9

Workforce Development 11

Service Overview 16

Programs and Services

Early Years 17

Family Wellbeing 26

Neighbourhood and Community Support 32

Performance and Innovation

Corporate Services 39

Finance Reports 40

Committees and Groups 42

Early Years Conference 44

Thanks 46

Contents

Front cover: Trip Leader, Bev White pictured with Ashleigh Fox.

Our Agency

Mission, Vision, Principles Acknowledgement Governance and Management Organisation Structure and Profile Workforce Development

Mission

UnitingCare Gippsland supports and strengthens personal, family and community life throughout Gippsland.

Vision

We have a vision of a healthy Gippsland where disadvantage and inequity are challenged. We want individuals and communities to have the opportunity to develop to their full potential. We want individuals and communities to have the knowledge, resources and abilities to positively confront individual, family and social change. We want this to happen in a way that is not divisive. We want collaborative partnerships to help us achieve this vision.

Principles

Acknowledgement

The Board of Governance and staff of UnitingCare Gippsland acknowledge that we stand on the land for which the Gunai/Kurnai and Bunurong people are the traditional owners and custodians. We remember their ancestors with respect and we commit ourselves to work for reconciliation and justice for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

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Governance and Management

We are pleased to present the 31st annual report, for this organisation now known as UnitingCare Gippsland. The name change last year better identifies us as one of 400 UnitingCare agencies providing community and other support services across Australia. We now have nearly 400 staff, a budget in excess of $17 million, and provide services over seven Gippsland local government areas. Around half our funding is directed at early childhood services and the rest towards young people, adults, families and older people. The Board saw two changes this year with Pam Tickner and Cath Greaves leaving with a combined service of fifteen years, and we thank them for their commitment and skills. John Nicholson will be leaving later this year after nine years service, and we thank him for his wisdom. The Uniting Church has a nine year retirement rule that ensures continual renewal. We will appoint a number of new Board members late in 2011 which will both consolidate and extend the skills and experience available to the agency. Unfortunately we had some staff die this year. Pete Simpson our passionate

Age Care Co-ordinator died suddenly. Mary Taylor, a volunteer for over ten years in our Bairnsdale office died after a long illness, and Mat Hall who worked in housing and disability also passed away. They all touched our heart in their unique ways, and they will be missed. The Board has extended its learnings and challenges by inviting more leaders to be guest speakers at Board meetings, has instituted a Nomination process, and has extended and improved planning by approving a five year capital budget, forecasting future building needs, and improving risk management and compliance reporting. Next year we have made plans to meet with the Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Co-operative Board to build relationships and learn from each other. The Stratford building development is a great partnership with the congregation to provide affordable accommodation so older rural people can remain in rural areas, and at $2 million is a major investment in the community. A key initiative was the approval of our Reconciliation Action Plan. This was a

Chairperson and CEO Report

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Governance and Management

first for Gippsland and implements our strategic imperative of improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander outcomes, and the wellbeing of Aboriginal children and families. We are a key partner in the new Aboriginal Child and Family Centre being established in Bairnsdale, and we formed a new partnership with Moogji Aboriginal Co-operative in Orbost, where we supply funds so Moogji can employ a full time youth worker so both agencies can collaborate and achieve our objectives. Ramahyuck Aboriginal Co-operative remains a key partner in Wellington Shire, and is innovative and supportive in working with families who use both our agency’s services. Surprisingly no major natural disasters were experienced this year, but we continue to work with individuals and families who were badly affected by wild fires and floods in previous years. We find most of our work is needed some eighteen months after natural disasters. The growth of the agency in the past five years has created a range of issues that impact on governance and management – the tyranny of distance between our various services, the need for financial stringency, rapidly changing technological solutions and the resources required, the number of kindergartens and early learning centres where it is difficult to work with staff on education and culture unless we disadvantage parents through temporary closures, our

response to the growing impact of younger staff with different needs and aspirations to baby boomers, the service development and funder pressures for immediate results that may not be aligned with our values or long lasting results for the community, and the changing issues in the community following global financial issues, mortgage stress, inadequate public housing, poverty and the wealth gap, and changed government policy. We applaud the new direction of national children’s policy and the improvements we expect in coming years, albeit this has a major impact on recruitment, professional development, building resources and even the viability of some more remote services. Even so, we expect our headaches will be more than balanced by improved service delivery. On behalf of the Board and staff, we thank all those who have used our services or partnered with us in the past twelve months. We commit UnitingCare Gippsland to continue to provide relevant, sustainable, appropriate and inclusive quality services. Rev. Tim Angus, Chairperson John Lawrence, CEO

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Organisational Structure

Board of Governance

Chief Executive Officer

John Lawrence

Director Performance and Innovation

Tracey Gibson

Director Early Years Practice

Kim McAlister

Fiona Kuch

Kate O'Reilly

Jane Neate

Sue Grogan-Williams

Kim Reid

Rebecca Ford

Director Family Wellbeing

Cindy Pullar

Melanie Lowery

Suzanne Spink

Debra Coker

Pam Jarvis

Barbara Livingstone

Director Age DisAbility and Neighbourhood Practice

Julie Crothers

Shirley Ruff

Jacqui Watts

Director People and Learning

Nikki Drummond

Director Corporate Results

Justin Wightman

Pam Porter

Kirstie Pearce

Director Workforce and Partnerships

Leanne Coupland

Assistant Directors

Di Fisher - Quality

Rachel Bell - Projects

UnitingCare Victoria and Tasmania

The Uniting Church in Australia

Practice Leaders

Organisation Structure

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Why we work where we work ….

we love the work we do

we appreciate our family friendly workplace

many of us enjoy the ability to work from home or work flexibly

we enjoy working with clients in a community service setting

we enjoy the support we receive from our colleagues

we like being challenged

we identify with the Agency’s vision, mission, principles, values and ethics

we value the Agency’s focus on professional development and opportunities to learn new skills

we enjoy the level of trust and autonomy entrusted to us

we are proud of our reputation and how the agency advocates for others

In November 2010 43% of staff participated in our staff survey and this is what they told us …

Who are we …

96% female

57% part time

3% Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander

14 % born overseas

11% speak a language other than English

70% hold post-secondary qualifications

23% have an undergraduate degree

7% have a Masters degree

77% are currently studying

75% intend to be studying in two years time

Staff Profile

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91, 23%

209, 54%

63, 16%

20, 5% 7, 2%

Years of Service

< 1 1-4 5-9 10-14 15-19

16-19 20 -29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60 - 64 65- 69 70+

2

58

87

128

81

24 9

1

Age of Employees

Full Time 55, 14%

Part Time 224, 57%

Casual 111, 29%

Employment Type

At 30 June 2011 …. 390 staff, 100 family day care educators, 81 foster carers, ….. disability …. and a team of agency volunteers were delivering and supporting the work we do across Gippsland.

Staff Profile

Female, 376, 96%

Male 14, 4%

Gender

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Workforce Development

Learning and Development Framework 2010/2011 saw the agency undertake a review of our internal Learning and Development framework and introduce a number of new programs and initiatives. This included our Alignment and Practice Program, a quarterly program that builds upon the orientation and induction experience for new staff. We also introduced the Leadership and Practice Development Program. Nine Practice Leaders embarked on this program in 2011. A further program will be delivered for remaining Practice Leaders in 2012 with the intention of making the program available more broadly to staff thereafter. One of the highlights of the program to date has been the high calibre of our guest speakers. The group were particularly inspired by a presentation from local Superintendent Tess Walsh, Victoria Police. Conversation Hours were a new concept also introduced in 2011 designed to bring staff together over lunch to talk about topics of interest and share expertise and program learnings. A number of staff participated in external leadership programs including Director Tracey Gibson who completed the Australian Company Directors Course, Leala Dowey and Kristy Atkinson from our Housing Team who both completed the Women in Leadership Program through the Women’s Leadership Alliance, and Practice Leader Debra Coker who is participating in the 2011 Gippsland Community Leadership Program. Nikki Drummond

Workforce Development

Early Years Forum’s UnitingCare Gippsland held a sequence of Early Years forums for our early year’s staff across Gippsland in 2010 and 2011. Catharine Hydon, Director of Early Childhood Australia was our guest presenter at our September 2010 forums. Catharine provided insight into the future for quality early childhood programs, bringing international and national best practice evidence to the conversation. Jan Deans and Josette Nunn from the Melbourne University Early Learning Centre were guests at our March 2011 forums, sharing information

about the National Quality Framework for early childhood programs to be implemented across Australia from January 2012. The forums were the beginning of a series of ongoing professional development and networking opportunities for UnitingCare Gippsland staff and parents involved in our Early Years programs. Those who attended the forums reported great value in the information provided and networking opportunities. Tracey Camidge

Workforce Development

UnitingCare Gippsland held a sequence of Early Years forums across Gippsland in 2010 and 2011 to explore recent early year’s reforms and how they will lead to improved outcomes for children and families.

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Workforce Development

Staff Days

For more than ten years UnitingCare Gippsland has hosted two staff days a year where staff, carers and volunteers from across Gippsland stop work for the day to get together for professional development, networking and fun. The days are held in May and October in a central Gippsland location to aid easy access for our geographically challenged workforce. This year, over ninety agency members attended each day. Following the launch of the agency’s Reconciliation Action Plan earlier in the year, the theme for our October 2010 staff day was ‘Indigenous Engagement’ at Wallaby Rise, Glenmaggie. ‘Workplace Respect‘ was the theme for our next staff day, held in Sale in May 2011. At this day, staff were treated to surprise guest speaker, Angry Anderson.

Driver Training

Being a regional agency our staff cover a significant amount of kilometres each year. After research it was revealed that an employee travelling in excess of 40,000kms per year has a 1 : 7000 chance of a serious accident at work compared to the mining industry which has 1 : 8000 chance. As many of our staff travel in excess of this distance, driver training was introduced. 121 staff completed the training at the Traralgon Airport between September 2010 and April 2011. We have since received positive feedback, with some near misses occurring which we have been told could have resulted in collisions had the drivers not attended the training. The agency will continue to offer this program.

Justin Wightman

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CEO John Lawrence with guest speaker Angry Anderson at our May 2011 Staff Day.

UnitingCare Gippsland is an agency of The Uniting Church, incorporated under the Uniting Church in Australia Act 1977. We have been delivering quality services to the communities of Gippsland for thirty-two years and are currently the largest and fastest growing provider of community and early childhood education services in the Gippsland region. Our strategic priorities include addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage, early childhood development and poverty. Our services encompass early childhood, family, youth, disability, housing and age care. We work with children, families and individuals to provide education, prevention, intervention, counselling, advocacy and capacity building programs and initiatives. We provide out of home care, education and respite services for children and families through our home-based care, disability and family day care programs and are the largest single provider of Family Day Care in Victoria. We manage thirty-two kindergartens and early learning centres across Gippsland, and deliver a number of innovative and flexible early learning programs in remote and far east Gippsland. We operate early learning centres in Lakes Entrance, Mirboo North and Foster and youth drop in centres in Morwell and Mirboo North. We offer financial, family violence and general counselling services. We work with our local communities on disaster recovery and community building initiatives, and facilitate a range of family and community development programs.

Main areas of service delivery:

South Gippsland Shire

East Gippsland Shire Wellington Shire

Other local government areas

in which we provide services:

Bass Coast Shire

Cardinia Shire Baw Baw Shire

Latrobe City

Service Overview

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Programs and Services - Early Years

Family Day Care, Long Day Care and Occasional Care Outside School Hours Care Remote, mobile and flexible children’s services Bush Link and Little Green Frog Kindergarten and early learning centre cluster management Preschool and Koori Preschool Field Officers Supported Playgroups including PlayConnect and MyTime Early Childhood Development Projects Community Investment Program Communities for Children Best Start

Family Day Care Family Day Care is an early learning and care service that provides quality, accredited care for children up to 12 years of age in a home environment through approved and skilled Family Day Care Educators. UnitingCare Gippsland provides Family Day Care in the South Gippsland, Wellington and East Gippsland Shires, and is the biggest single provider of Family Day Care in Victoria. Our Gippsland Family Day Care schemes have recently been working with the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, 2009 (EYLF) to guide the education and care provided to children in educator’s homes. The vision for children provided in the EYLF is characterised by Belonging, Being and Becoming. Family Day Care is a unique learning setting in a home environment, providing rich learning in everyday experiences and reflecting Belonging, Being and Becoming through everyday occurrences.

Belonging refers to constructing a child’s identity and building strong, warm relationships. Family Day Care provides a perfect environment to foster a sense of belonging through the educator’s building strong relationships with children and their families, through trusting and respectful understanding of family needs and values. Being refers to allowing children to be themselves. This is supported in Family Day Care where our educators have an understanding of the child’s interest, strengths and needs, and respect the differences of each child. Becoming refers to the rapid development and learning that takes place with children. The learning environments in family day care settings allow children to be active and involved learners, with the support of educators that provide opportunities to extend children’s learning. Kim Reid

Early Years

In 2010/2011, 100 family day care educators, supported by our coordination unit, provided 391,674 hours of care to 1109 children and 593 families throughout the South Gippsland, Wellington and East Gippsland shires.

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Early Years Early Learning Centres UnitingCare Gippsland operate a 60 place Long Day Care Centre in Lakes Entrance and a 40 place Long Day Care Centre in Mirboo North. In July 2011 we opened a new Centre in Foster.

293 children were enrolled in our Lakes Entrance Long Day Care Programs in 2010/2011. At Lakes Entrance, 64 children also attended after school hours care, and 141 children attended our vacation care programs. 76 children attended our St Andrews Long Day Care Program in Mirboo North.

Remote Early Year’s Programs and Services Our mobile (including Bush Link and Little Green Frog) and remote and rural centre based early year’s services, offer accessible, innovative and flexible early childhood programs, visiting parent resource and advisory services and toy libraries, to isolated families in the east, far east and south Gippsland regions.

Vacation, Occasional and Outside School Hours Care Offered through our Early Learning Centres and our Family Day Care Schemes.

Kindergartens and Early Learning Centres In 2011 UnitingCare Gippsland’s cluster management role of local kindergartens and early learning centres grew to 32.

Remote and rural early years programs were delivered out of Benambra, Omeo, Swifts Creek, Buchan, Cann River and Goongerah for 179 isolated children. 108 families used our Bush Link services during regular visits to playgroups, families and centres in Won Wron, Yarram, Yanakie, Fish Creek, Wilsons Promontory, Foster, Toora and Mirboo North. The Little Green Frog facilitated supported playgroups and provided other regular visiting early years services to families across far East Gippsland, including Omeo, Cann River, Bonang, Club Terrace, Mallacoota and East Bairnsdale.

This year our kindergartens and early learning centres have offered a combined total of 66 programs across Gippsland. 622 children are enrolled in our four year old kinder programs, a further 281 children in three year old programs, 13 children are enrolled across two integrated kinder and childcare programs, and 49 children are enrolled in occasional care.

My Time Playgroup MyTime is a national program of facilitated peer support groups for parents and carers of a child 0-16 years with a disability who want to connect with others and share their experiences. Our MyTime Playgroups in Bairnsdale have been operating since February 2008. Two childcare staff lead the children and their siblings in activities so parents and carers can spend time focusing on catching up with others in similar situations, as well as accessing resources and information to help them with their child’s special needs. Rose McKenna

Early Years

Seven families attend our PlayConnect playgroup in Lakes Entrance Eighteen families attend our two MyTime playgroups in Bairnsdale.

PlayConnect Playgroups are a component of the Australian Government's Helping Children with Autism package, addressing the need for support and services for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families. Our Lakes Entrance PlayConnect Playgroup has been operating since July 2009. The Playgroup offers structured sessions focussed on providing practical assistance, information and links to relevant services for families who have a child between the ages of 0-6 years with ASD. Parents, caregivers and children participate in a

variety of play activities suited to the needs of the children. The group brings parents, siblings, grandparents and other family members together in an environment of mutual understanding. The early stages of a child’s diagnosis of ASD is often when families need the most support. Children with ASD or ASD like characteristics benefit by being able to participate in developmentally positive experiences at an early age, to enhance their overall development and wellbeing. Rose McKenna

PlayConnect Playgroup

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Wellington Best Start Project Best Start is a Victorian government initiative which supports families and communities to provide the best start to life in the important early years. Best Start aims to improve the health, development, learning and wellbeing of all Victorian children from pregnancy to school (0-8 years). UnitingCare Gippsland is the facilitating partner of Best Start in the Wellington Shire. Over the past year Best Start Wellington has worked closely with members of the Wellington Primary Care Partnership to put together a new Best Start Action Plan. A forum was held in March 2011, with agency and community members providing input into strategies and actions for the partnership to work towards over the next three years. Together we looked at the research and decided our future focus will include: • Increasing the number of women who choose to

breastfeed, • Ensuring that all children commence primary school

having previously attended a quality funded kindergarten program, and

• Increasing support for parents to participate in community life.

Further community consultation is planned in relation to this third indicator. In line with our goal of increasing breastfeeding rates, UnitingCare Gippsland and our partner agencies have been working towards gaining Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace accreditation. We have begun work on setting up breastfeeding rooms for staff and community use in each of our three main sites. This has been a timely move for our agency with a number of new mums about to return to the workplace from maternity leave shortly. Julie Fitt

Early Years

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Early Years

East Gippsland Communities for Children Local Initiatives Program (LIP) Communities for Children is an innovative early intervention and prevention program funded through the Federal Government that aims to improve the health, wellbeing and development of children aged 0-12 and their families, by addressing local needs and fostering community participation. UnitingCare Gippsland is the facilitating partner of the East Gippsland Communities for Children Program – one of only 45 programs funded across Australia. The Local Initiatives Program (LIP) has been one of the major and most successful activities funded through our program to date. LIP aims to target local, grass roots initiatives via community based groups such as playgroups, parent support groups, kindergartens, sporting clubs and schools. Since 2005, over 150 projects have been funded throughout East Gippsland towns including our more rural and remote communities. Funds of up to $5,000 are made available to seed and support groups. Evaluations have highlighted the benefits of small scale, flexible funding to support communities and families and how low cost projects can have high impact. Through investing small amounts of funding into worthwhile projects, we have been able to demonstrate a ‘ripple effect’ across communities and services. A list of LIP projects funded in the 2010 – 2011 financial year is found on the following page. Lisa Lightowler

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Early Years

Local Initiatives Projects (LIP) funded in 2010 – 2011

•Get Off The Block – School Holiday Program, East Bairnsdale

– Gippsland Lakes Community Health (pictured)

•Family Alcohol Awareness booklet – Gippsland Lakes

Community Health

•Boys Reading Project – East Gippsland Shire Council

•Smiles for Miles – Resourcing Kid’s Smiles – Primary Care

Partnership

•Circles for Life – East Gippsland Specialist School

•Computer Outreach – 754 Primary School, Bairnsdale

•Everybody’s Different - Gippsland Lakes Community Health

•Lorikeet Library – East Gippsland Shire Council

•Great Dads – Clifton Creek Primary School

•Little Groovers – High Country Music Sessions – Swifts

Creek Primary School

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Early Years Community Investment Program The Community Investment Program (CIP) is a federally funded program that aims to build community capacity and resilience and provide children and young people with a better start in life. This year we went about achieving this aim through offering programs that engage fathers, programs that build social skills for parents and develop parent networks, and other family engagement activities. Programs were run in partnership with schools and the broader community. Twenty-five projects were implemented throughout Gippsland in 2010-2011, attracting over 1000 participants. Specific programs and activities delivered or supported through CIP included PitStop, Tuning into Kids, supported playgroups, parent support groups, Students at Work, Swell Mammas, Yarning Circle, Let’s Read, the Strong Foundations for Early Childhood Conference, community gardens, and Dad’s day out. Critical factors that led to the successful implementation of the CIP include: • flexible delivery of projects that can be adapted to the

needs of individuals and communities, • strong partnerships between UnitingCare Gippsland

programs and external organisations, • on-going communication and consultation between

the agency, families and with the wider community, incorporating learnings from previous years and

• the dedication, passion and enthusiasm of staff working across a large geographical base. (Thankyou!)

The successful implementation of CIP has enabled UnitingCare Gippsland to obtain a further three years of funding under the new Communities for Children Direct Services Program, funded through the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Kirsty Hannan

28 dads attended PitStop parenting programs in Sale, Mirboo North and Orbost. 101 participants attended Tuning into Kids programs delivered across the Wellington, South Gippsland and Bass Coast Shires. A further 129 parents and carers attended other parenting programs delivered through the Community Investment Program.

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Prom Coast Centre for Children During the financial year UnitingCare Gippsland worked with the South Gippsland Shire Council, the community of Corner Inlet, and other early childhood service providers to develop a long awaited children’s hub. This incorporated the kindergartens in Foster, Toora, Welshpool and Fish Creek, a new 30 place child care centre and the local maternal and child health service. The project has seen the establishment of a new purpose built centre in Foster, and the relocation of the existing kindergarten and maternal and child health service and other early childhood workers. The centre was officially opened in August 2011 after many months in the planning. The Reference Group pictured below is made up of Shire and departmental representatives, parents and community members, early childhood service providers and a number of UnitingCare Gippsland staff. The group has represented the community and involved services in the development of the new integrated hub, developed plans to transition existing early childhood services in the Corner Inlet region of South Gippsland into an integrated service, and developed an action plan that includes communication, risk management and evaluation strategies. The next step will be the development of a Parent Advisory Group who will look after the virtual hub of services now that the service is operational. Tracey Gibson

Early Years

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Programs and Services - Family Wellbeing

Child FIRST and Integrated Family Services Early intervention and parenting programs Home Based Care Counselling Youth

ChildFIRST and Integrated Family Services At times families can benefit from a little support and assistance. ChildFIRST & Integrated Family Services are family support services which play an important role in promoting outcomes for vulnerable children and families. Providing a range of interventions, ChildFIRST & Integrated Family Services have a whole of family approach, and aim to strengthen parent capability and improve the family’s connections through access to community resources. Supporting families with children under 18 years of age, the program can provide a range of assistance including information and referral, in-home support and advocacy, family counselling and mediation, group work and case management. Qualified and experienced staff support and assist families to work through concerns they may be having, with the goal of preventing future issues. UnitingCare Gippsland works in partnership with a number of other community and health services in the South Gippsland and Wellington Shires to provide ChildFIRST & Integrated Family Services. Our South Coast Alliance consists of Anglicare, Berry Street Victoria, Bass Coast Regional Health, Department of Human Services and UnitingCare Gippsland, and services both the South Gippsland and Bass Coast Shires. In 2010 / 2011 the Child FIRST team in South Gippsland, partnered with Anglicare and Parentzone, delivering two parenting programs in the region. In the Wellington Shire, ChildFIRST & Integrated Family Services are provided in partnership with Ramahyuck District Aboriginal Corporation, Yarram & District Health Service, the Department of Human Services and UnitingCare Gippsland. In 2011, the ChildFIRST team partnered with UnitingCare Gippsland Housing to set up a Community Kitchen. Marie Jones-French / Mel Lowery

Family Wellbeing

In 2010 – 2011, our ChildFIRST teams in Wellington and South Gippsland provided support to 679 families , through referrals from the community and other organisations, regarding concerns about the safety and welfare of children.

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Counselling Family Violence Counselling is offered from our Leongatha and Sale offices for women and children who have experienced or witnessed family violence. Family Violence can take many forms such as physical, emotional, sexual, financial and spiritual abuse. It can also include forced social isolation or any behaviour which causes the victim to live in fear. Our Family Violence Counsellors can also assist with referrals to other service providers. In South Gippsland we also provide counselling for people referred by General Practitioners. This service is available to children and adults of all ages to provide support for any condition that affects a person’s psychological or emotional wellbeing.

Home Based Care UnitingCare Gippsland provides several types of home based care including emergency respite, planned respite, short term or transitional care, long term care and crisis care. Home Based Care enables a child to live in a family environment if they cannot live at home.

Youth

Throughout 2010 -2011, UnitingCare Gippsland provided a range of youth programs and services in the South Gippsland, Bass Coast, Latrobe and Wellington Shires through its Youth Participation and Access Programs and other funding sources. The Youth Participation and Access Program encourages young people to play a more active role in their own community through providing avenues for participation, opportunities to build life skills, information and resources, and by strengthening connectedness between service providers.

Family Wellbeing

In 2010/2011, we provided 303 hours of family violence counselling to women and children in the South Gippsland and Wellington Shires. In South Gippsland a further 988 hours of counselling and 60 hours of group work was provided through our Rural Primary Health Counselling program. 113 children and young people were placed in home based care across 51 households with our 81 carers.

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Youth

Arty Gras Festival The Mirboo North Arty Gras Festival held on May 7th 2011 was a great success again this year. A committee of young people, a parent committee, staff from UnitingCare Gippsland and the South Gippsland Shire Council all helped make this event a great success. The street parade was enjoyed by all and the Skate Bowl was used as a sound shell to host two local bands - Tearaway and Insignia. Sumo wrestling was also a hit as the young people enjoyed getting dressed up in the sumo suits. Around the skate bowl the young people who attend UnitingCare Gippsland’s Youth Centre exhibited their artwork which included skate deck designs and masks. Tania Doig

Wellington Youth Mentor Program - Melbourne Zoo Trip

On 28th October 2010, our Mentoring Week celebrations arrived after many months of planning. The train ride to Melbourne was very quiet, but things soon changed upon arriving at the Melbourne Zoo. Once at the zoo, mentors and mentees went off together to explore. A lunchtime rendezvous brought everyone back together as a group for a shared lunch, then it was off exploring again. The escalators at Southern Cross station provided a fun diversion for all while we waited for the return train trip to Sale. On arriving home it was a wonderful to see the smiles, excitement and growing relationships resulting from a great day out. Elizabeth Bruns

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Awesome Girls This program was started to help children develop self esteem through physical activity and fitness. It was developed as a result of a number of counselling referrals for children who would benefit much more from getting out and about and doing something rather than sitting in a counselling office. Initially the program aimed to teach children about nutrition and fitness, and included a large educative component. This was found to be difficult to achieve in the short time span of the program, and the most useful aspect of the program seemed to be doing activity based learnings. Parent feedback indicated that they thought it was beneficial for their children to be able to join in and take part - not to have to be competitive or good at something, but just to be part of it. The other major success of the program has been the use of teenage facilitators. Feedback from the children generally centred around the fun and ability to join in different aspects of the program. One creative activity was to get the girls to use painting and craft as a means of expression and get them to put on a t-shirt how they saw their ‘inner self’. This exercise proved to be the most popular of all activities. This picture shows what the girls achieved. Elizabeth Bruns

Youth

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Whatever! Whatever is a Youth Diversity Project run by young people, for young people in the Latrobe Shire, auspiced by Headspace and UnitingCare Gippsland. The group develops social action projects aimed at providing support and challenging homophobic attitudes in the community. Whatever meets fortnightly for fun, activities, information and support and welcomes all young people who are interested in working towards a safe, diverse community for others.

So Wot! Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth in the Wellington Shire now have access to a peer support group in the region with the official launch of the So Wot group taking place at UnitingCare Gippsland’s Sale office earlier in the year. The group’s mission statement is to provide a friendly, safe and supportive environment for people of all sexualities, as well as their friends and family. While a similar group is auspiced by UnitingCare Gippsland in the Latrobe Valley, founding members recognised there was nowhere in the Wellington Shire to go to for support, and many young people were moving to Melbourne. So Wot hold regular meetings at UnitingCare Gippsland’s Sale office. The group’s name was decided upon to promote it’s inclusive and non-judgemental nature.

‘So Wot’ was officially launched on 22 March 2011 at UnitingCare Gippsland’s Sale office.

Youth

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Programs and Services – Neighbourhood and Community Support

Disability and respite care Age Care Independent living Housing Support Youth Justice Financial Counselling No Interest Loans Scheme Learning for Life Scholarships

Community Support

Financial Counselling Our Wellington and East Gippsland offices offer a Financial Counselling service to assist low income and vulnerable consumers. Our financial counsellors provide information, referral and support in relation to a broad range of financial issues. They have a broad knowledge of debt, credit and other financial issues and can assist low income earners to get a fair deal and manage their money in the most effective way.

No Interest Loans Scheme (NILS) The Good Sheperd NILS program offers small loans free of interest and charges to individuals and families on low and limited incomes. Loans are generally for the purchase of essential household items and can be paid off in affordable amounts. UnitingCare Gippsland supports clients to access the NILS program in the Wellington and East Gippsland Shires.

Learning for Life Scholarships The Smith Family's Learning for Life program supports disadvantaged children and young people from pre-school and primary school, through to secondary school and tertiary studies. This year, UnitingCare Gippsland supported 204 children from 90 families with access to scholarships through the Learning for Life Program.

This year we provided financial counselling support to 277 clients across the Wellington and East Gippsland Shires.

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Community Support

Housing Support Our Housing Team provides housing support, information, case management, advocacy, education and training to youth aged 15 – 25 years in the Wellington Shire who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. These services are delivered through our Youth Housing Support and Creating Connections Programs. We also provide Housing Support in the Wellington Shire for singles and families aged 25 and over. In 2010/2011 our Housing Team provided 295 episodes of support.

Age Care Our Age Care Team currently service twenty Community Aged Care Packages and an additional five Consumer Directed Care Packages across the Wellington and East Gippsland Shires. These packages enable clients to have a more hands on involvement in their own care. We are members of the broader UnitingCare Community Aged Care Network. 28% of our clients are Veteran’s, 26% are considered financially and or socially disadvantaged, 24% reside in rural or remote areas of Gippsland, 20% are CALD clients, and 20% have a diagnosed memory impairment. The average age of our clients is 84.7 years. One of our clients recently transferred to a consumer directed care package, resulting in the client gaining a greater understanding of the services provided, and self determination about which services are of greater importance to her remaining at home independently. Our services operate at 100%, with vacancies filled within two to five days. Our service provision to clients averages 512 days per package. Jacqui Watts

In 2010/2011 our Housing Team supported 87 young people to secure housing. A further 36 families accessed our transitional housing program and 147 adults and families were assisted with crisis support.

Our Age Care team serviced 20 Community Aged Care Packages and a further five Consumer Directed Care packages across the Shires of Wellington and East Gippsland.

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St Andrews Close, Stratford In 2006 Stratford Uniting Church Minister, Reverend Ivy Goodwin began to explore ideas about how the vacant land behind the Stratford Uniting Church might be put to better use. It was in a state of disrepair - fences needed attention and controlling the grass and weeds was a constant issue. Ivy wondered if we could build retirement style units because she knew some long-time Stratford residents had been distressed by the need to leave their friends, families and networks to move to either Sale or Maffra when the time came to down-size. In 2007 Ivy contacted John Lawrence, CEO of UnitingCare Gippsland. At the same time, members of the local community began to independently conduct a survey throughout Stratford to see if residents saw this type of development as a priority for Stratford. The results were a very definite 'yes'. Agency and Church members have been working together ever since to work through ideas about developing the land. The result is now a dream being realised as St Andrew’s Close, a development of ten, affordable and well appointed two bedroom independent living units. In 2011 the soil was turned and construction has commenced. The units are due to be completed in early 2012. Six of the ten units have been presold. UnitingCare Gippsland also currently manage fifteen independent living units in Bruthen. Julie Crothers

Age Care

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Our Disability Services team provides a wide range of respite and recreational activities and support packages for young people and adults. 2010/2011 was a very busy year with over 5,730 hours provided to clients through our planned activities and camps. Activities included horse riding camps, fishing trips, go-karting, mini golf, a Phillip Island camp and visits to the Morwell Power Station. All activities were well attended and enjoyed. This year a craft group for girls also commenced at our Bairnsdale site receiving an enthusiastic response. We have a wonderful volunteer who assists with this Saturday program providing support and energy to this activity. Volunteers are valued members of our team assisting to provide activities to enhance the experience for our clients. Many of our programs rely on volunteers to be operational. Working in partnership with the George Gray Centre, we arrange a social dance. This dance is a favorite of many in the Sale area, and the theme nights are always buzzing with excitement. Our Respite services aim to enhance the skills of participants. Each activity will bring new experiences and enhanced learning for those involved. For example: a horse riding camp provides respite for the child’s guardian – however looking further into the activity, our aim is to assist with balance, fine and gross motor skills, social skills, personal care, hygiene, basic independent living skills such as bed making and involvement in meal preparation. This is just one example of how our respite services provide more than just ‘time out’. Our programs follow the Active Service Model of delivery and commencing in 2012, we will be enhancing our services further to provide individually targeted skill enhancement activities during each of our respite programs. Jacqui Watts

Disability

2010-2011 was a very busy year in our respite service with over 5,730 hours provided to clients through our planned activities and camps.

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Organisational Performance, Innovation and Corporate Results

Corporate Services Financial Statements Internal Committees and Groups Third annual Early Years Conference

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Corporate Services

In the past twelve months the agency has gone through a period of consolidation and stabilisation of the new structure and the first twelve months of our new name. We experienced a small deficit for the first time in four years which was the combined result of fully funding the new structure, funding the name change, the continued increase in demand on all services and requests for unfunded items such as emergency relief, housing support and brokerage funds. Our budget for 2010/11 was $17.3 million and for the first time in our history we paid in excess of $10 million in salary and wages to our 390 employees.

February 2011 saw the merge of Prom Coast Children’s Services kindergartens in Foster, Fish Creek, Toora and Welshpool into the UnitingCare Gippsland family. We are proud of all the work that occurred in this process and the additional work that has occurred in getting the Children’s Hub at Foster open and operating from July 2011.

A full time Asset Co-ordinator was employed and has spent much of his time listing our buildings and the state of repair of items in the buildings. From this we have developed an ongoing maintenance plan including a five year capital budget. The first priority is the refurbishment of the Bairnsdale building which will commence in October 2011.

Our continued increased focus on Information Technology saw the Agency move to full Cloud computing for email and intranet, allowing access from anywhere an internet connection is available. This will result in considerable capital cost savings as well as reduced environmental impact of having to run multiple servers across the agency.

The focus of the Corporate Services Team over the next twelve months will be the redevelopment of our East Gippsland offices and relocation of staff throughout this process. There will be an increased focus on cluster management of Kindergartens and the services provided by the Early Year’s Administration Team. We will also look at consolidation of our administration and finance teams across the agency.

Justin Wightman 39

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

($’000) ($’000) ($’000) ($’000) ($’000)

Revenue from operating activities

Government contributions

Fees & Charges

Sale of Goods

Uniting Church Contributions

Gifts, donations, bequests, trusts

Revenue from outside the operating activities

Interest

Rental Income

Net gain on disposal of plant and equipment

Government Capital Grants

Other revenue

Total Revenue

Expenses

Audit fees

Brokerage

Consulting and legal fees

Depreciation & Amortisation

Doubtful debts & bad debt write offs

Employee benefits expense

Insurance premiums paid

Kinder surplus transfer to trust

Motor vehicle and travel

Postage, telephone, printing and stationery

Purchased and other expenses

Repairs, maintenance, property expenses, rent

Training & Development

Total expenses

Surplus / (Deficit) from operations

13,371

3,110

233

82

145

172

163

25

8

70

17,379

33

3,388

75

338

32

10,708

65

303

346

433

1,198

346

137

17,402

(23)

12,519

2,296

218

75

191

193

133

26

235

128

16,093

27

3,325

85

323

42

9,510

46

101

338

408

1,174

342

117

15,838

255

11,103

2,109

215

7

186

191

116

5

-

63

13,995

20

3,380

42

290

39

7,810

66

14

338

303

1,186

328

153

13,969

26

7,511

1,443

196

122

37

159

126

20

-

31

9,645

9

3,038

48

222

32

4,823

20

-

308

199

574

282

69

9,624

21

6,751

1,527

98

129

38

124

87

18

-

24

8,796

11

3,155

8

220

7

4,173

24

-

165

194

528

267

55

8,807

(11)

This Income Statement is extracted from the UnitingCare Gippsland Financial Report for the year ended June 30 2011. Our financial report has been audited by WHK AUDIT (VIC). The full financial report with accompanying notes is available from UnitingCare Gippsland offices.

UnitingCare Gippsland ABN 27 198 905 226

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the Year Ended June 30 2011

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2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

($’000) ($’000) ($’000) ($’000) ($’000)

ASSETS

Current Assets

Cash & Cash Equivalents

Trade Receivables

Investments

Other Current Assets

Other Financial Assets

Total Current Assets

Non-Current Assets

Capital Work in Progress

Other Financial Assets

Property, plant & equipment

Total Non-Current Assets

TOTAL ASSETS

LIABILITIES

Current Liabilities

Trade & Other Payables

Short Term Provisions

Resident Ingoings

Interest Bearing Liabilities

Other Current Liabilities

Total Current Liabilities

Non-Current Liabilities

Resident Ingoings

Interest Bearing Liabilities

Long Term Provisions

Total Non-Current Liabilities

Total Liabilities

Net Assets

EQUITY

Accumulated funds

Reserves

Total Equity

164

482

1,517

85

1,716

3,964

100

-

4,377

4,477

8,441

1,564

827

15

52

1,716

4,174

33

288

523

844

5,018

3,423

3,292

131

3,423

278

414

2,473

89

1,267

4,521

42

-

3,975

4,017

8,538

2,366

696

18

34

1,267

4,381

48

243

420

711

5,092

3,446

3,315

131

3,446

232

380

2,887

62

1,096

4,657

-

172

3,233

3,405

8,062

2,417

717

15

12

1,096

4,257

25

206

383

614

4,871

3,191

3,060

131

3,191

193

357

2,222

21

1,036

3,829

-

138

3,048

3,186

7,015

2,414

642

22

12

1,036

4,126

45

218

60

323

4,449

2,566

2,435

131

2,566

104

295

1,748

47

359

2,553

-

160

1,899

2,059

4,612

2,035

577

-

-

359

2,971

-

-

65

65

3,036

1,576

1,445

131

1,576

Statement of Financial Position for the Year Ended June 30 2011

Green Ambassador Team Staff at UnitingCare Gippsland have been addressing waste management and sustainability issues since an internal staff group was first formed in 2006. More recently, a benchmarking exercise was undertaken and the Green Ambassadors program from Monash University Gippsland was identified as a suitable program to be adapted by UnitingCare Gippsland. 2010 has seen an exciting development with the establishment of an internal Green Ambassador team with representation from staff across our three main sites of Leongatha, Sale and Bairnsdale. During the year, Terms of Reference were developed. The group aims to oversee actions that will reduce the agency’s environmental footprint through the application of the reduce, reuse and recycle philosophy. Just recently, the Green Ambassadors have formed a working group to focus on sustainability across our early year’s services. As a major service provider of early years in the region, the group aims to develop more sustainable practices in kindergartens, Long Day Care Centres, occasional and after school care and Family Day Care. There is an opportunity to encourage the education of young children through the development of more sustainable practices and a focus on environmental education in curriculum. The working group is focusing on policy development, data collection on current practice, the provision of professional development and providing practical resources for early childhood settings. The membership of the group includes a kindergarten teacher who is already embracing sustainable practice and provides best practice examples to other services. The working group is seeking funding to expand our work further throughout our early year’s services through establishing gardens, installing water tanks and providing information sessions. Another major focus for the year has been the planning of our next staff day in October, 2011. The theme of sustainability and environmental responsibility will be shared with all staff to build a higher level of education and enthusiasm in the organisation. Rachel Bell

Sustainability

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Occupational Health and Safety Committee Thanks once again to the hard working members of our Occupational Health and Safety Committee. This year saw Damon Piercy from our Leongatha office take over the role of Chairperson from Leonie Luckwald. Leonie remained on the committee along with other committee members including Jim Barritt, Peter Simpson, Maree McMenamin, Yarna Kraft and Megan Maxwell. During the year, Jill Edwards also joined the committee in our first step to have our kindergartens and other offsite services represented. The agency has a number of other committees and groups comprised of staff and / or Board members, who work diligently to support the work we do. These include our:

Risk Management Committee

Workforce Culture and Learning Committee

Reconciliation Action Plan Task Group

Green Ambassadors Team

Quality Committee

Audit and Compliance Committee

Performance

Reconciliation Action Plan

In July 2010, we celebrated the launch of our Reconciliation Action Plan in our Leongatha, Sale and Bairnsdale offices. The Plan was the first by any organisation in the Gippsland area – an achievement of which our staff and Board of Governance are quite proud. The action plan is a significant step in developing working relationships, trust and respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

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Innovation

Our third annual Strong Foundations for

Early Childhood Conference On 30 July 2010, UnitingCare Gippsland held its third annual regional early year’s conference at the West Gippsland Arts Centre in Warragul. The Strong Foundations for Early Childhood Conference was attended by 360 early childhood professionals, parents, carers and grandparents. The conference was facilitated by Julie McCrossin. Key note speakers included Professor Collette Tayler, Chairperson, Early Childhood Education Melbourne University, Australian best selling children’s book author, Mem Fox, Victoria’s Child Safety Commissioner, Bernie Geary, and author and parenting specialist Maggie Dent. The success of the conference was once again made possible through the hard work of the staff who were part of the planning committee and support crew on the day. Leanne Coupland

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Strong Foundations for Early Childhood Conference, guest speaker Mem Fox with UnitingCare Gippsland staff. Photo courtesy of the Warragul Gazette.

Thanks

A special thanks to • Staff, volunteers, carers and educators for their dedication

and hard work • Board and Committee members for their time and

expertise • The Uniting Church for its continued support • Local members of Parliament who champion our issues • State, federal and philanthropic funding bodies • Minter Ellison for their pro bono legal advice • Our generous donors and supporters who this year

include:

• Estate of Charles Geillion • Mackie Estate • Ritchies IGA Community Benefit Fund Maffra • WHK Gippsland • Wellington Shire • Omeo Senior Citizens • Sale College Social Club • Toora Uniting Church • Chilli Cycles, Warragul • Lions Club Bruthen • Bairnsdale Carer and Depression

Support Group • Foster Camp Draft • Quantum Support Services • R E Ross Trust • Kinder Parent Committee

fundraising efforts for individual kindergartens

• Staff and committee donations • Anonymous and other donations

Thanks

Chilli Cycles donated a number of recycled bikes to UnitingCare Gippsland this year which were provided to several of our programs across the region. Chilli Cycles proprietor, Kaylene Chaproniere explained that the initial concept of using several unusable bikes, to create one good bike, was as a result of a local opportunity shop asking if Chilli could use the bikes frequently left with them. In no time the shop had numerous bike components and parts and was able to put together fully functioning bikes.

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