INFORMATION SESSION ON SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE VIETNAMESE ORGANISATIONS AND KARITANE

On the 5th of November 2003 the information session for Vietnamese General Practitioners on services provided by the Vietnamese organisations and Karitane was organised at Cabra Vale Diggers Club with 12 Vietnamese General practitioners attended.

The aim of this session was to raise awareness of Vietnamese GPs about social / welfare services provided by Vietnamese organisations and also the Karitane service for their referral information. Following is the summary of information was delivered by guest speakers on that evening.

Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association NSW Inc. is located at 6-8 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown NSW 2200 (across Bankstown Station, near Commonwealth Bank) to provide accommodation for Indo- Chinese Homeless aged 16- 24 years who are living in Fairfield, Bankstown and Canterbury Local Government areas, particularly who can live independently and who is willing to share a house with others on a co-operative basis. For enquires regarding referrals, admission or further information, the contact number is (02) 97071519.

Vietnamese Community in Australia/ NSW Chapter provides various social welfare and settlement services to the Vietnamese residents in NSW. Service provision include

  • Community Development Program (Community Settlement Services Scheme - CSS Scheme) to identify settlement needs, to develop and plan service provision to meet the settlement needs of the Vietnamese community etc.
  • Information and referral Services (CSS Scheme to provide settlement information and referral services to newly arrived Vietnamese individuals and families and assist in understanding Government’ s document and advocacy.
  • Links to Leaning Program to provide support, social activities and training courses for Vietnamese young people who left school or at risk to leave school early.
  • Multicultural Arts Project to reserve and promote Vietnamese arts and cultural diversity of Australian society, network and provide information and consultation to mainstream and other arts related agencies and arts practitioners.
  • Vietnamese Family Support Project to provide support and counselling on services available to Vietnamese families and their children.
  • Problem Gambling Project to increase awareness of problems associated with gambling, to provide counselling services, training workshops on gambling issues.
  • Personal Support Program to provide counselling and personal support services to Vietnamese job seekers with multiple barriers, referral and advocacy help to link into local community and access to services.

For further information, please contact 97968035 – level 2, 300 Chapel Rd South, Bankstown or 97275599 – 84C John St. Cabramatta.

Vietnamese Women’s Association in NSW (VWA) is a non-profitable organisation founded in 1984 to represent the settlement needs and concerns of Vietnamese women and their families in NSW.

Managed by a voluntary management committee, its main objectives include:

  • To provide support and assistance to Vietnamese women and their families in resettling into the Australian society
  • To promote women’s rights, opportunities and participation and
  • To maintain and promote Vietnamese cultural heritage in a multicultural society

The organisation currently has four positions, a full time Community Settlement Services Worker funded by Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs) to provide general settlement services; a part time Outworkers Employment Project Officer (funded by the Department of Industrial Relations; to assist Vietnamese women outworkers gain employment and training; a part time one day Disability Support Worker to provide support to Vietnamese people with a disability and their carers (funded by the Community Relations Commission); and a part time bookkeeper.

VWA’s Office is situated in Cabramatta, but they also provide outreach services to Liverpool and Campbelltown. For more information about services and courses available and how they may help you, contact VWA on 02 9723 2022.

Karitane promotes health and provide quality care and guidance to families so that children can thrive. Karitane provides wide range of services including

  • Karitane line – 24 hours state wide telephone information service: Child and family health nurses are available for consultation on a wide range of issues eg. feeding, sleep patterns, establishing a routine and toddler management. Sydney Metropolitan area (02) 9794 1852 toll free on (02) 1800 677 961.
  • Residential Family Care Unit: is a tertiary level public hospital to provide professional care and guidance on an impatient basis for families with infants and young children.
  • Family Care Cottages are centre based secondary level day stay services located at Randwick and Liverpool to offer education, support and information, which address parents’ needs.
  • Jade house- Parent baby Day Unit is a specialised day stay unit for women who have a diagnosis of, or who are at risk of developing, a perinatal mood disorder. Jade house also offers education programs to health professionals on perinatal mood disorders.

Karitane Volunteer Programs is a home visiting service for families with a child under the age of three years living in the Fairfield, Bankstown and Liverpool local government areas.

Feedback from the information session

After the session, the participants have given the very positive feedback such as the informative session and excellent guest speakers.

From the questionnaire received, there was the suggestion for organising more information on women’ s refuge services and other non-government organisations such as Centacare, Burnside Cabramatta, Anglicare etc. Generally, most the participants indicated that they all have known the Vietnamese Community in Australia/ NSW Chapter; the Vietnamese Women’s Association; the Vietnamese Elderly Friendship Association. For other organisations such as Karitane is the second best known, and it has been referred the most by the participants. Bonnie and Mimosa women’ refuges were not familiar much by the participants.

In conclusion, the comments of one guest speaker has indicated the successfulness of the session as follows “I found last night to be much more interesting than I originally thought because as we all know about each other's service, we sometimes get bored by these presentations. However, I must say all the speakers were very engaging and it surprised me that the doctors were engaged and asked lots of questions. So, well done. I would be more than happy to explore further collaborations”.