Humanitarian And Community Services – Territory Families In Northern Australia

Historical Context of the Territory Families

Discuss about the Humanitarian and Communities.

Community services and humanitarian aid are two interlinked terms where both actually mean to provide necessary human services in social and community development programmes. Several community development organizations work hand in hand to foster the economic development and social welfare schemes in remote Australia. The Territory Families in Northern Australia principally operates in children and family welfare sectors, which demand the most concentration from the State. Due to the existence of Territory Families and several other community development organizations, focused and flexible service providing has been possible and it has accelerated local solutions and decision-making as well (“Homepage – Territory Families”, 2017). Now the Northern territory of Australia has been greatly troubled for some time due to continuous refugee arrivals and settlements. Countries like UK & Ireland, New Zealand, China and India hold the highest rank in terms of refugee sources in Australia. To balance the social structure between the aboriginals and the new-arrivals as well as fortify the social structure while being responsible for children and caring for  families and elderly persons are the biggest challenges to the Northern Territory Families (“Homepage – Territory Families”, 2017).

This report indulges in developing a profile for the Territory Families while attempting to identify its type and structure. Then the mission and structure of the organization is to be analyzed keeping in the view of its vision and goals. In addition to that, the report inspects what services are offered to the territory people and to what extent these prove to be beneficial for them. Eventually it reflects the organization’s contribution in the broader community and humanitarian perspective aiding people to understand the nature and function of it.

Since ages, indigenous Australians have been living in the third largest part of Australia i.e. in the Northern Territory. However, this region is sparsely populated and is considered remote where it had become necessary to set up an organization like Territory Families that could reach out with all the local help when required (“History of the Northern Territory – Australia’s Northern Territory”, 2017). The Australian government also identified the growing domestic violence and child protection issues in these remote areas of Northern territory and the requirement to build up partnerships with local communities. Identifying these issues, the government of Northern Territory established Territory Families on September 12, 2016. The aims behind introducing the family support scheme were noble and are as follows:

• Establish the provisions to make safe houses even in the remote places.
• Put a stop to child abuse and child labor by setting up a locomotive child protection team
• Increase the recruitment of workers from the aboriginal family workers.

Type and Structure of the Organization

         The organizations all over the world fall majorly into four categories being:

• Pyramids or Hierarchies
• Committees or Juries
• Matrix and
• Ecologies

The Territory Families group concerns with service providing to the aboriginal families and children and works in a group aiming to offer the best possible service to 11 remote communities in this region. Hence, it falls under the committees or juries group where the members of the group decide collectively about the course of action that would be appropriate for them.

The Territory Families group cooperatively works with the vision to grow as a stronger and healthy tribe (Keith & Moore, 2014). They aim to build safe homes for children as well as put a stop to any kind of family violence in order to form happy and strong families. The aim of the group is to work hand in hand to make the Northern Territory of Australia the best place to bring up children and they are committed to create a better life for every inhabitant (Judd & Keleher, 2013). The objectives pursued by the family group are as follows:

• Safe houses for children
• Children make quality choices
• Strong and healthy families without any instances of domestic violence
• Strong community

The shared beliefs, assumptions and values in an organization have immense influence on those who work for the same. These are reflected in the manner of the people associated with the group and thereby, maintaining a boundary for them about organizational ethics (Barbera, 2014). The organizational culture of any organization consists of seven principal characteristics:

• Risk Orientation: An organization consistently has to look for innovation and improvement in its performance. While discussing about Territory Families group, the same strive for betterment can be noticed.
• Precision Orientation: Precision in organizational culture dictates the members to be accurate in their work
• Achievement Orientation: Achieving the desired outcome is the key focus for the Northern Territory group. The members have been very much dynamic and active in reaching out to the needy (Barbera, 2014).
• Fairness Orientation: This specifically poses a great deal of importance on what effect an organization’s performance would have on the service receivers as well as on the members who are associated (Barbera, 2014).
• Collaboration Orientation: The Territory Families’ activities are likely to rely significantly on this orientation as they perform together in teams instead of working as individuals.
• Competitive Orientation: This particular characteristic of organizational culture is not applicable for the chosen Northern Territory Families group since it does not aim to compete but places a high value on social welfare services (Gilmore et al., 2016).
• Rule Orientation: This characteristic indicates those organizations which predictable in nature and perform consistently in the same way. However, the Territory Families is not a profit-oriented enterprise it conforms to this culture strictly abiding by the pre-determined directives.

Territory Families operates with some certain values that are strictly carried out by all the members of the group in order to deliver services competently and confidently.

• The Northern Territory Families recognize the strength in everyone.
• They provide services non-discriminately
• Operate under a set of recognized ethics.
• They are respectful in their approach towards children.

The structure or design determines the mode of services of an organization and provides an idea how competently it can perform under crucial circumstances. The organizational design structure for social welfare service providing groups tend to become rather complex since they offer services on different issues and themes, at different levels and working for different targeted people at the same time (“territoryfamilies”, 2017). A generic outline for the Territory Families group is likely to look like this:

Figure: Organization Structure of Territory Families

Source: territoryfamilies. (2017). territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/238668/Annual-Report2014-15.pdf

The formation of Territory Families compiles multi-dimensional welfare services to different sections of society. It does not limit itself in providing service to the aboriginals only but also works for people of all linguistic and cultural background who have become permanent inhabitants of the territory over the years (“About us – Territory Families”, 2017). Territory Families include the following divisions in the organization in order to execute stable and uninterrupted performances:

• Children and Families
• Children’s Policy
• Offices of Women’s and Men’s Policy
• Youth Justice
• Youth Multicultural Affairs and Seniors
• Senior Pensioner Concessions
• Domestic Violence Directorate

Vision and Mission of the Group

The key function of this organization is to provide services to the grass root level and to the children and families, the section that forms the foundation of society. Thus, they aim to build a society where children can experience a healthy and happy childhood and most importantly, they remain safe (“About us – Territory Families”, 2017). Other than this, Territory Families ensures that women and men from different linguistic and cultural grounding are offered equal opportunities and that elderly persons in the territory are valued and honored (“About us – Territory Families”, 2017).

All the above-mentioned divisions of Territory Families have their own strategies to execute the desired outcomes. The following section discusses thoroughly the procedures of service delivery of the most important sections:

This department dedicatedly works to the best interest of children in collaboration with other welfare agencies in the country. The service delivery model of this department is discussed in detail henceforth:

• Concentrated family preservations and child safety is the main concern for the department. In addition, it provides reunification services to the children who have become vulnerable due to child protection inquiries (“Home – Department of Treasury and Finance”, 2017).
• Work with Department of Education on guidelines and a protocol in order to eradicate the sexualized behavior in children.
• It is their obligation to review and revise DCF’s policies and amend them with time if necessary. Again, a DCF Remote Service team has been formed to support families, contribute to carer assessment and look into investigations in those places while working collaboratively with urban sections (“Home – Department of Treasury and Finance”, 2017).
• Accountability in practices and effective legislation has always been the priority for the department.

• The Youth Justice Act is regularly monitored and evaluated by the committee (“Youth justice supervision in the Northern Territory (AIHW)”, 2017).
• Concentrates on the correctional services by implementing new plans and investigates if there is any room for further development.
• Provides the Minister of Correctional Services with the integrated information related to issues in youth justice.
• In case of unavailability of the family members of the youth who is likely to face a police interrogation, the committee prepares the list of appropriate support personnel who can sit with the youth in the interrogation (“Youth justice supervision in the Northern Territory (AIHW)”, 2017).
• The committee is entrusted with carrying out functions directed by the minister.

• The directorate focuses on safeguarding the rights of the victims
• It also tries to transform the offenders by bringing out a change in their behavior.

• Women’s health and welfare
• Women’s safety
• Their economic security
• Ensuring their participation in leadership and in every other sector of society

• Health and wellbeing
• Engagement and partnership
• Community safety
• Supporting the male section of youth in the process of their adulthood (Stephenson, 2017)
• Indigenous men’s advisory council offers guidance to the particular community men

• Assist the senior citizens, pensioners and carers to take possession of a land or a home who are not the first proprietor (“Home – Department of Treasury and Finance”, 2017).

The community government of Northern Territory of Australia has rooted the sense of accountability in the residents by expanding their powers and including them in the economic development through establishing Territory Families in the form of self-government (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). However, the structure of self-governance includes several challenges alongside multiple opportunities of providing the best programs for the community people. Surrounded by these challenges Territory Families now realizes the importance of building a consolidated human resource capacity to confront and overcome all of them. The competency-based human resource management system consists of some key elements that have developed the human resource strength at local level.

• Human Resource Planning: This initial stage involves analyzing present staff capacity while predicting human resource requirement and thereby, identifying the difference between the two (Knowles, Holton III & Swanson, 2014). Besides, it includes succession planning, enabling the Territory Family government to plan for the concerns and issues existing in the field.
• Job Descriptions: This is an integral part to any human resource management system as it acts as the blueprint of what kind of person should be employed and what is the job all about.
• Recruitment: Hiring the most suitable local for a certain department is a significant and critical point for the Territory government.
• Orientation: Providing the new employees with an orientation reduces their stress for the new job and enhances their performances (Delahaye, 2015).
• Performance Evaluation: Performance evaluation is like the mirror that highlights the real capabilities of the staffs to the government.
• Training and Development: A well-trained group of staffs is essential to deliver quality services to the residents of the territory (Tyson, 2014)..
• Implementation: This final section provides the organization with the idea when and how to implement the strategy that will most benefit the service receivers.

Conclusion:

Undoubtedly, therefore, we can conclude that Territory Families has played the indispensible part in shaping and fostering the Northern Territory community to what it has emerged to be today. Their working hand in hand to face every issue however grave it is, has set an example to the other provinces of the country. Despite struggling with obstacles like rising criminal activities and children abuse, the families have strived to achieve a solution to everything united. The government has also recognized the tremendous effort on the families’ part in transforming the region.  In this context, the government of Northern Territory must also be praised to come up with such an innovative idea, which has been proved promising in such a brief span. Certainly, the formation of Territory Families is a great step taken to develop a healthy and lively future generation.

Reference:

About us – Territory Families. (2017). Territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au/about

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Barbera, K. M. (2014). The Oxford handbook of organizational climate and culture. Oxford University Press.

Child abuse – NT.GOV.AU. (2017). Nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://nt.gov.au/community/child-protection-and-care/child-abuse

Delahaye, B. (2015). Human resource development. Tilde Publishing.

Gilmore, B., Adams, B. J., Bartoloni, A., Alhaydar, B., McAuliffe, E., Raven, J., … & Vallières, F. (2016). Improving the performance of community health workers in humanitarian emergencies: a realist evaluation protocol for the PIECES programme. BMJ open, 6(8), e011753.

History of the Northern Territory – Australia’s Northern Territory. (2017). Australiasnorthernterritory.com.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://www.australiasnorthernterritory.com.au/Living/Pages/history-nt.aspx

Home – Department of Treasury and Finance. (2017). Treasury.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://www.treasury.nt.gov.au/TaxesRoyaltiesAndGrants/HomeOwnerIncentives/SeniorPensionerandCarerConcession/Pages/default.aspx

Homepage – Territory Families. (2017). Territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au/

Judd, J., & Keleher, H. (2013). Reorienting health services in the Northern Territory of Australia: a conceptual model for building health promotion capacity in the workforce. Global health promotion, 20(2), 53-63.

Keith, M. R., & Moore, M. (2014). Public Health Association of Australia (NT Branch) submission to Northern Territory Select Committee on Action to Prevent Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

Knowles, M. S., Holton III, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2014). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development. Routledge.

Stephenson Jr, M. O. (2017). The Theory and Practice of International Humanitarian Relief Coordination. In Palgrave Handbook of Inter-Organizational Relations in World Politics (pp. 485-502). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

territoryfamilies. (2017). territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://territoryfamilies.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/238668/Annual-Report2014-15.pdf

Tyson, S. (2014). Essentials of human resource management. Routledge.

Youth justice supervision in the Northern Territory (AIHW). (2017). Aihw.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from https://www.aihw.gov.au/youth-justice/states-territories/nt/