The Building Safe and Strong Families: Early Intervention and Family Support Strategy launched in 2016. As part of the Strategy, the Aboriginal In-home Support Service (AISS) was initiated in 2018 to reduce the number of Aboriginal children entering out of home care.
AISS is an intensive in-home intervention that aims to keep Aboriginal children and young people safely at home with family and connected to country, culture, and community. AISS works with families to build on their strengths, supporting them in addressing parenting issues and putting in place strategies to ensure the safety of children and young people.
An independent summative evaluation was commissioned by the Department of Communities in 2021. This evaluation was led by Social Ventures Australia (SVA) with the support of Professor Victoria Hovane, an Aboriginal woman from Broome belonging to the Ngarluma, Jaru and Gooniyandi peoples and the senior research advisor on the project. Department of Communities with Service Partner Wungening Aboriginal Corporation co-designed through workshops, an Implementation Plan addressing the recommendations identified in the evaluation.
In 2023, Department of Communities commissioned Keogh Bay People (Keogh Bay) to undertake a second evaluation of AISS to build on the first evaluation and to assess the appropriateness, effectiveness, and efficiency of each service, including determining the extent the services are having a positive impact on family functioning and diverting families from the child protection system.
