May 2009 Edition
Staffing News
Farewell to Maria Evans
MAY
During April, we bade a sad farewell to Maria Evans, who held the
2009
position of Manager Foster Care for over five years. Maria has had an
EDITION
eight year career with Stretch-A-Family commencing as a Caseworker and
later being appointed to the position of Manager Foster Care when this
position was first created. During her time with SAF, Maria also gave
Stretch-A-Family Inc. ABN 99 897 792 897
12 Bruce Street, Stanmore NSW 2048
birth to two children. Understandably, Maria chose to work lesser hours in
www.stretchafamily.com.au 02 9569 6933
a less intensive role so that she can spend more time with her growing
family.
Progress of the new Stretch-A-Family Head office
Maria made a very significant contribution to the SAF Foster Care
program and was instrumental in the developing the role of the Manager
On the 31 March 2009, the acquisition of the property at 7/198
Foster Care, including writing the Manager Foster Care Manual and working closely with other
Marrickville Rd was finalised. Stretch-A-Family will now have a
staff to prepare for the agency accreditation in 2004. Maria is going to be sadly missed. We wish
permanent home in Marrickville which will act both as head office
her the best of luck, both in her new role and with raising her young family.
of the agency and headquarters of the SAF Foster Care Program.
We do not yet have a replacement for Maria but we are hoping to appoint a new Manager Foster
We extend our sincere appreciation to our pro bono legal team at
Care during May 09
Henry Davis York (HDY), and in particular to Senior Associate
Trang Nguyen and to Property Partner Jennifer Degotardi. Not only
Welcome to new casual staff Simone Blake and Aleksandar Sibinovski
did HDY provide the conveyancing pro bono, they also
successfully negotiated on our behalf with the Office of State
Simone Blake is a very experienced youth worker and also
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Work on the fit out of the new office commenced with a week of
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settlement and is proceeding very well. The design of the office was
created by Teresa Cochrane of TMC Design and the work is being carried out by Faber Commercial
Aleks Sibinovski joined our team as the first exclusive
Interiors. We expect the work to be fully completed by the end of May. We are all very excited
Family Contact Supervisor. Aleks has a background in
about the prospect of moving into our new office and no doubt Caseworkers will enjoy not having
security and recent training in the welfare industry.
to share desk space.
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Curves Food Drive
Welcome to Daniela Marjanovic
Our good friends and supporters at Curves Marrickville had their annual food drive during March
Daniela Marjanovic joined our permanent Stanmore Staff team in April replacing Dawn Liffman
2009 and once again chose to give all the food donated by members
who moved to the part-time Supporting Worker role due to study commitments. Daniela was
during that month to Stretch-A-Family. A massive 255.1 kg of food
formerly employed by Marist Youth Care as a residential care youth worker. Daniela’s interests
was donated and this was shared between the two houses. Donations
include staying fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and she has also been a volunteer Martial Arts
of non perishable food items are always welcome at
Instructor. She is already very popular with Stanmore House residents!
Stretch-A-Family and savings in running costs
enable funds to be targeted towards other items for
Staff Training
young people such as special group outings. Thank
you to all the members who donated food and to
During March 2009, all Stretch-A-Family staff received re-training in the use of Looking After
Sarah Perry at Curves who coordinated the donations.
Children Case Management Tool (LAC training). The training was conduced by The LAC Project
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staff and was conducted over two days in a training room donated by Club Burwood. Our staff
To further support Stretch-A-Family, Curves Marrickville is selling the Sydney
enjoyed the group training and are now better equipped to use this tool in the best possible way.
Entertainment Books to raise money for SAF. The books cost $65. Parramatta/Hills and surrounds
Stretch-A-Family has been using LAC to ensure best practice and consistency in Case Management
books are also available for $55. 20% from the sale of each book contributes to SAF fundraising.
since 2003 and recently updated to the electronic web version. Stretch-A-Family focuses on
So if you are thinking of buying an Entertainment Book this year, why not contact Curves on 02
ensuring staff receive all necessary training and possess all the skills to perform their work at a high
9557 1658 or email them at curvesmville@optusnet.com.au
standard in order to ensure best outcomes for our clients. More group training is planned for the
2009 Calendar year.
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Residential Care News
Stanmore House News:
On Track News:
Nicky Johnson
Virginia Texeira
International Woman’s Day Morning Tea Stanmore 6th March 2009
Morning Tea for SAF staff
On Track staff hosted our first whole agency Morning Tea at
In order to celebrate International Woman’s Day 2009, Stanmore House held a morning tea to
Roselands on Thursday 16 April 2009. Our goal is to build a solid
honour the contribution of women particularly to the social welfare sector. We had a guest speaker,
connection between residential care and administration/foster care
MS Tanya Denny, who is a graduate of NIDA having studied both acting and directing. Tanya was
staff. We greeted our SAF guest colleagues with lots of
awarded a scholarship to study acting and then invited back to study to become a Director. Tanya
sandwiches, cakes and plenty of great conversation. It was a great
works in the OOHC sector and in her limited spare time is an internationally acclaimed Director
opportunity to have Stanmore staff visit On Track for the first time
frequently working abroad in Italy, Spain, and Austria etc. Tanya provided an inspirational,
and see our work space and the residential area. Many happy
interactive talk on meeting adversity with dignity and living your passion. Tanya spoke from her
smiles on the day and lots of cups of tea were shared by those that
own experiences of diversity and her talk inspired all of us whom attended to keep striving despite
supported the event. Hayley Partington confirmed that she does
the unique struggles we often face as women to reach and conquer the light at the end of the Tunnel.
have a highly developed skill when it comes to catering and providing a variety of healthy and
naughty treats.
The CEO Lilian, and Managers Nicky and Virginia also attended an International Women’s Day
dinner on the 9th of March 2009, sponsored by Marrickville Council with the guest speaker being
Admin Staff Ayoob and Aimy were more than pleased with the surroundings and a huge thank you
the honourable Linda Burney who is the Minister for Community Services. Linda also holds the
to our On Track and Stanmore team for their support on the day.
honour of being the first Indigenous female to be voted into the NSW parliament. Linda was
supported by a panel of inspirational women who again provided insights into their own struggles
Headspace: Youth Services Forum
and triumphs proving that with determination and courage the human spirit will always prevail.
On Thursday 2 April 2009, youth workers and case workers from all SAF programs attended a
youth mental health forum for service working with young people in and around the inner west /
central Sydney area. Headspace is funded by the Australian Government under the Promoting
Stanmore House Residents literally walk on walls
Better Mental Health - Youth Mental Health Initiative.
The key note speaker, Professor David Bennett discussed the importance of addressing adolescent
Three of the current Stanmore House Young people recently attended
health and advocating for resilience building by offering alternative programs. We actively
an eight week course run through Leichhardt council, titled the “On
participated in workshops targeting specific youth issues. One of the greatest elements to this forum
Edge” program. The course involved using a harness to learn to climb
was the opportunity to hear stories from young people that have accessed Head Space. The group
walls and perform acrobatics. All three of the young people completed
discussions were facilitated by a specialist service provider which created a link between
the course and attended each Friday evening from 5.30pm until 10pm.
government and non government service providers. SAF participants thoroughly enjoyed the
They improved their self-confidence, fitness and self-esteem and were
service expo and the chance to network with other local youth services. www.headspace.org.au
very proud of their accomplishments. At the end of the course a
presentation evening was held and staff members were able to attend to see the prowess of our
School Holiday activities
young people in action and being put to the test! Participants each received a certificate and it was
On Track residents were fortunate to attend the 2009 Royal Easter Show. It was a fun filled day
fabulous to be able to share in their achievements.
with a big crowd. There was a small but generous Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday. Our program
is currently experiencing a chocolate detoxification. The school holiday activities kept our young
residents very busy. They were participants in a sport and recreation camp and a tennis camp.
Midnight Basketball Jaunts
Fitness First also provided our residents with free membership during the school holidays, and this
was very well utilised by our young people.
Another one of our talented young people recently attended a
Midnight basketball competition run through Marrickville
The On Track House gets a face lift
PCYC. The end of the competition coincided with Youth-Week
Thanks to a very generous CDSE Grant which we received from
April 2009 celebrations and our young person received a trophy
our friends at Canterbury Leagues Club during 2008, the On Track
for his participation. He thoroughly enjoyed this activity,
house is getting a much needed upgrade! We have lifted carpet,
meeting new friends and the social aspects of the competition.
replaced timber flooring, polished floors, painted walls, replaced
Luckily for him, the competition is being run again this term
carpet as well as other upgrades. Watch this space for some
and he is eagerly waiting to start next Friday the 8th of May
glamorous photos in the next edition! In the meantime it has been
2009.
somewhat tricky working around the work in progress but we are
sure the results are going to be well worth it.
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