ANFPP Dubbo and Blacktown jointly presented at The National Maternal Child and Family Health Nursing Conference in Darling Harbour in August 2019. The theme was “Navigating the future- new directions in maternal, child and family health nursing”.

An AFPW and the NS from Blacktown presented alongside a NHV and AFPW from the Dubbo team presented on the third day of the conference. The team enjoyed participating in the conference and the pre-conference workshop on Early Detection of Autism Behaviors.

Please see the teams conference abstract below:

Successful partnerships between families, Aboriginal Family partnership workers and Nurse home visitors to improve health outcomes.

This presentation will explore how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families work with Aboriginal Family Partnership Workers (AFPW’s) and Nurses in a sustained home visiting program from early pregnancy to the child’s second birthday. The Australian Nurse Family Partnership Program is a federally funded, evidenced based program which aims to address the health disparity experienced by ATSI families. This presentation will explain the ANFPP and how we work with ATSI families from a strengths based approach. It will focus on how AFPW’s and NHV’s work together and what strategies they utilize to support families in achieving physical, emotional and cultural wellbeing. We will explore the role of the AFPW and the unique way Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service has utilised this role in the ANFPP in a rural ( Dubbo, Wellington, Gilgandra, Narromine) and urban ( Blacktown) setting. We will focus on the key role the AFPW has on recruitment, retention and case coordination of clients. We will discuss how AFPW’s gain feedback from families and advocate for cultural safety for their clients both in the care they receive from ANFPP and from external services. We will share two client case studies (one rural and one urban) as well as staff’s reflections on working in a multidisciplinary team from a family centered partnership model in a community controlled aboriginal health service.