Strong Families Sharing Cultural Parenting Knowledge

Why have we made Strong Families Sharing Cultural Parenting Knowledge?

The Multicultural Council of the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory Government’s Family and Children’s Services program recognise the challenges facing families arriving in a new country. We have produced this DVD to show how strong families of all kinds and from all cultures can offer a positive vision for what works well in families.

What research is this project based upon?

Strong Families Sharing Cultural Parenting Knowledge has grown from Australian and international research that suggests that focusing on family strengths, rather than difficulties, can effectively help families to face problems, conquer setbacks and look to the future.

The International Family Strengths Model (Sinnett and DeFrain 1985) has been developed over thirty years from more than fifty studies in 29 countries with 21,000 family members. It consists of six qualities that strong families across the world tend to share:

  • Commitment to family
  • Appreciation and affection for each other
  • Positive communication patterns
  • Enjoyable time together
  • A sense of spiritual well-being and connection
  • An ability to successfully manage stress and crisis

In 1999 the University of Newcastle’s Family Action Centre used this research to interview 600 Australian families about what they perceived to be their strengths. They identified eight qualities:

  • Communication
  • Togetherness
  • Sharing activities
  • Affection
  • Support
  • Acceptance
  • Commitment
  • Resilience

The Family Action Centre worked with St Luke’s Innovative Resources in Victoria to translate these research findings into a tool that could be used by family health and support workers to build conversations about family strengths. The collaboration led to Our Scrapbook of Strengths – a set of 42 cards that provide an insight into the characteristics of strong families, groups and communities. These cards helped us to talk with the families involved in this project.

How did we do it?

We used the Family Strengths Model and Our Scrapbook of Strengths to run workshops with family groups who identified themselves as having met and overcome challenges as a family in Australia. This gave them an opportunity to explore individual family strengths and to share the qualities of their family and parenting beliefs that they believe help their family to work well. Families were then filmed as they told their stories.
The families involved

This DVD is not intended to be about individuals or specific families, but more about universal human experiences that show us the strengths that families use to overcome adversity.

We would like to acknowledge and thank the families who share their personal stories and family traditions in Strong Families Sharing Cultural Parenting Knowledge. By sharing their stories, they can help other families to rediscover their own strengths and enhance their ability to adapt to change and bounce back from the challenges of family life in Australia.

Who might use this DVD and how?

Strong Families Sharing Cultural Parenting Knowledge can be used by anyone working with families – particularly if families are facing challenges as they settle into Australian life.

The DVD can be viewed and discussed with individual families, with groups of families and with community groups to help them to identify, explore and build on their own strengths and positive parenting practices, resources and networks.

As you view the DVD you will see how each family is different, but how they also share qualities that make them strong and resilient.

Practitioners can use the Strong Families DVD, along with Our Scrapbook of Strengths and the Family Strengths Model, to develop creative ways of helping families to explore relationship strengths and to identify how these can be used to meet and overcome the trials and setbacks of family life.

Where can you get more information about the Family Strengths Model, Our Scrapbook of Strengths and other strengths-based resources?

Family Action Centre, University of Newcastle
Website: www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/fac
Phone: (02) 4921 6858

University of Nebraska-Lincoln for Families
Website: ccfl.unl.edu/

St Luke’s Innovative Resources
Strengths Café: www.strengthscafe.com
Website: www.innovativeresources.org
Phone: (03) 5442 0550

Strong Families Sharing Cultural Parenting Knowledge is supported by the Australian Government under the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy.

Short excerpts from each family’s story can be viewed here

The following videos are WMV files, it is recomended that you view them with Windows Media Player or VLC.