...a focus on early childhood
Small Matters Newsletter
January 2005
The Peter Williams Trust fund was established in 1996 by the late Dr Alan & Dorothy Williams in memory of their son Peter who, after surviving a long illness that resulted in a 15 month coma at 9 years old, died in a hiking accident at the age of 16 years. In their respective careers both Alan and Dorothy were a formidable team in the advocacy of quality services for pre-school children and their families, and especially for those children who faced the challenge of social and material disadvantage.
The first project of the Trust in 1996 was to support the work of the Peter Williams Family Education Centre which was initiated by Family Focus, but then terminated by Oz Child in 1997. Since then, the Trust’s funds have supported the Salvation Army for their Crossroads Children's Project (1999), Ardoch Foundation for its Early Childhood project (1999-2004) and UnitingCare Connections child, youth and family services (2002-2004). A total of $135,000 has been distributed since 1996. In 2005 the trust plans to support a project within the "Take Two" program developed by Berry Street Victoria. This project will assist infants (0-3 years) from child protection services and their parent/carers, to respond to any emotional and behavioural problems.
Sir Rupert Hamer - Inaugural Chairman of Peter Williams Trust
Sir Rupert Hamer was chairman of the Trust from its inception in 1996 until his death earlier this year. Sir Rupert, who was a close and long term friend of Alan and Dorothy Williams, did not hesitate when asked to chair the Trust. He not only supported Alan and Dorothy�s vision for the Trust, but was also a highly skilled chairman providing sage advice. Dorothy once commented that she felt confident the Trust was in safe hands with Dick at the helm. Dick was a very loyal and loving friend of all the Williams family and will be missed by both family and the Trustees.
Sir Rupert Hamer AC KCMG ED
29.07.1916 - 23.03.2004
Sir Rupert Hamer with Dorothy Williams:
Connections Working Together Program
The Connections Working Together Early Childhood Services program is a unique early intervention and preventative program supporting children aged 2-6 years experiencing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and their families and childcare/preschool staff. Specifically the program is for children who are ineligible for other early intervention services as they do not have a diagnosed disability. Many of these children and their families are experiencing difficult life circumstances including poverty, abuse, physical and mental disability, and drug and alcohol related problems. As a result of such issues, children and their families are frequently at risk of being excluded, stigmatised and ostracised from the broader community in which they live and hence alienated from potential sources of support. Funds from the Peter Williams Trust were used to employ a part-time facilitator for group work for children and their parents. A group work program called "Exploring Together" was used which involves a small group of children together with a parent or main carer meeting for 2 hour sessions over a period of 9 weeks. There are also two partners’ evenings as well as meetings with staff of the child’s early childhood centre. The groups have proved very successful, with parents reporting a significant reduction in their child’s challenging behaviour, an increased ability to manage their children’s behaviour, an improvement in their child’s self-esteem, emotional awareness and social skills.
The Working Together program was recently evaluated by senior research fellow, Dr. Tim Moore, at the Centre for Child and Community Health, Royal Children’s Hospital and found to be an effective program. An important finding from the evaluation was that it is possible to achieve consistently good results in a relatively short time. The average length of time a child and parents/carers were involved with program was only 5 months with the average direct hours of service provided being just 33 hours. This makes the program very cost effective and provided further proof that it is easier to make a difference early in a child’s life when difficulties are still emerging than later when they are well established.
Ardoch Early Childhood Support Project
Over the past 5 years, the Peter Williams Trust provided funding for Ardoch’s Early Childhood Project. This project aims to ensure that children aged 0-5 years old and their families, who are experiencing disadvantage, have access to and are supported by early childhood centres. This is made possible through financial and family support, as well as community education. Having access to quality childcare allows children to not only be prepared for going to school, but also enhances their resilience, playing a vital role in preventing the likelihood of many social problems later in life.
Studies over the past 20 years have found that children who have been involved in high quality preschool programs have a reduced need for special education services through their schooling years, are more likely to graduate from high school, and less likely to be involved in the criminal/justice systems or to be chronic offenders.