To achieve the best outcomes for children and families, the Child and Family Support System (CFSS) collects and reviews data throughout its work with families. This helps us understand their needs, track progress, measure program effectiveness, and strengthen the skills of our workforce.
We use our research evidence to inform a stronger system. The more we understand about the children and families in South Australia needing support and the services we provide to them, the more we can:
- provide the best support for families, and keep children and young people safe and well, in their families, communities and culture
- understand what works for whom, and why, and what impact the CFSS is having on outcomes for children and families
- improve the ways the CFSS interacts with other service systems and create a stronger, more integrated family support system.
More about our research
Child and Family Support System Research Approach
A learning approach for the Child and Family Support System
Reports
The CFSS regularly prepares or contributes to the development of reports or evaluations.
The Family Snapshot Validation Report
The Family Snapshot is a tool used across South Australia’s Child and Family Support System. It helps us understand how families are going and whether support services are making a difference.
The tool looks at key areas of family life, such as housing, safety, social support and child wellbeing, to track changes over time.
This Family Snapshot report confirms that the tool is reliable and effective.
Using the tool helps services:
- measure outcomes
- improve support
- understand what helps keep children safe and families strong.
The Family Snapshot Validation Report (PDF 1.1 MB)
The Family Snapshot Validation Report summary (DOCX 47.0 KB)
If you have any questions or wish to request this report in a different format, please email the Early Intervention Research and Data (EIRD) Team at DHSChildandFamilySupport@sa.gov.au
How to Embed Learning Systems in Social Services: A Case Study of South Australia's Child and Family Support System
A report from the Centre for Policy Development, developed in partnership with The Front Project. It offers practical lessons for policymakers and public servants on how to embed continuous learning into the design and delivery of social services, drawing on the success of the CFSS.
Based on interviews with staff from DHS, service providers and lived experience advisers, the report sets out six practical recommendations that governments across Australia can apply to their own service systems. Implementing these recommendations would enable governments to improve service design and delivery so services work earlier, work better and work for the people they are meant to support, without increasing long-term costs.
How to Embed Learning Systems in Social Services (Centre for Policy Development)
DHS Intensive Family Service: Quasi-experimental evaluation
A report prepared by the BetterStart Group at Adelaide University, assessing the impact of the Intensive Family Services (IFS) on family preservation over a 24-month period. The key finding is that there was a beneficial effect of IFS on preservation (children not entering out-of-home care) within 24 months. 93.2% of children in IFS did not enter out-of-home-care within 24 months compared to 90.5% of children in the comparison group.
DHS Intensive Family Service: Quasi-experimental evaluation (PDF 940 KB)