CareSouth - Early Intervention

CareSouth began in 1994 with the vision of two south coast businessmen who recognized the great need to support children and families in their community and volunteered their time. Now a registered charity, CareSouth is managed by a voluntary Board of Directors and is well regarded as a provider of accommodation, care and support services to children, young people, people with disabilities and their families.

CareSouth’s mission is “supporting individuals, families and communities.”

Our Values:
• Promote self responsibility and self determination.
• Working in cooperation and partnership.
• Openness, honesty and integrity.
• Effective resourceful management of service.
• Quality outcome focused service delivery.
• We listen and respond to people who use our service.
• Commitment to continually improve our service.
• Client participation..

CareSouth has a number of programs:
• Youth Hostel
• Nan Bishop House—Disability Services
• Out-of-home Care
• Family Choices
• Supervised Contact and Transport
• Intensive Family Support Program
• Brighter Futures
• Aunties & Uncles

Youth Hostel (SAAP)
Short-term and emergency accommodation for young people aged 15 to 18 years. The service provides intensive case management to assist each young person to work towards an improved living situation. Exit plans for clients can involve locating and moving to other supported accommodation or independent living situations or achieving family restoration, where appropriate. more >>

Nan Bishop House—Disability Services
A long term accommodation service for people with an intellectual disability. Clients in this service are fully supported by staff 24 hours per day. Placements are funded by the Department of Ageing, Disabilities and Home Care. The program offers individuals the opportunity to gain a variety of independent living skills and to participate fully in the local community. All clients have individual service plans and are encouraged and supported by CareSouth staff in reaching their goals. more >>

About Nan Bishop
Nan Bishop was a highly respected local identity who, prior to her death in September 1996, left a legacy of support for young people who come into care. She inspired the formation of the Nan Bishop Fund Auxiliary who regularly raise funds on behalf of CareSouth. As a mark of respect and gratitude, our residential facility in Kinghorne Street is named in her memory. Six young people with disabilities reside at Nan Bishop House. These young people are supported by CareSouth staff to enjoy a quality of life within our community.

Out-of-home Care
This is a brokerage service which provides out-of-home care for children and young people aged between 0 and 18 years. Placement can be long term or short term depending on the needs of the child requiring care. Intensive case management is available for children and young people who have been assessed as having special or very high needs. Intensive support is provided to foster carers to establish suitable exit plans for the clients, via family restoration or long term out-of-home care. more >>

What is the Family Choices Program?
Children and young people with a disability who are unable to live permanently with their birth families can benefit from alternative family care. Family Choices enables families to voluntarily participate in an alternative family care arrangement. Parental responsibility and guardianship remains with the birth family and there are no child protection grounds for the child or young person’s placement.
In order to meet the different needs of children and young people and their birth families, a range of voluntary care options can be arranged including:

Supervised Contact and Transport
Tertiary qualified workers are employed to supervise contact between children and young people in out-of-home care and their natural families. These workers ensure the safety and quality of the contact. Formal reports are submitted to the Department of Community Services (DoCS) on completion of the contact visit.

Intensive Family Support
The Intensive Family Support Program aims to support family preservation and family reunification strategies. It is also designed to empower and strengthen families by providing support, education and role modeling in a home setting. Experienced CareSouth family workers assist families to develop skills within the family home setting and via direct modeling. This gives family members the opportunity to practice the skills while under the guidance and monitoring of the family support workers, in their own home, with their own children and in situations that are specific to them. The scope of the program is holistic and covers the physical environment, parental capabilities, family interactions and relationships, practical skills such as budgeting, shopping and cooking and establishing domestic routines, and relationships within the community and other organisations such as schools.

Brighter Futures
Brighter Futures is a new initiative providing targeted support to vulnerable children and families to prevent their problems from escalating. CareSouth is working with a number of local area agency partners to provide case management support to over 200 families enrolled in the EIP. Together we are working towards:

Aunties & Uncles
This is a preventative program which offers support to families under stress and children who have little or no extended family. Each child is linked with an approved and trained volunteer aunty and/or uncle, who provide quality time for the child. Generally the child spends at least one weekend per month with the aunty/uncle. The program aims to prevent future problems by supporting and strengthening the families.

Nowra
11 Haigh Avenue, Nowra PO Box 1076, Nowra NSW 2541 p 02 4423 6833 f 02 4423 6834

Ulladulla
2/68 Deering St, Ulladulla PO Box 886, Ulladulla NSW 2539 p 02 4455 7510 f 02 4455 7520

Wollongong
Unit 2/ 19-21 Ralph Black Dr, North Wollongong NSW 2500 p 02 4225 7588 f 02 4225 7599