Allambi Care has been delivering Family Preservation services across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens and the Hunter for more than 12 years. After an extensive procurement process across the sector, Allambi Care is one of six organisations that were successful in securing a contract to deliver the Families Together program across the Hunter and Central Coast regions. This is a huge milestone for the team - providing clarity, stability and improved resourcing.
Families Together sits within the suite of Family Preservation frameworks funded by the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), alongside Aboriginal Family Preservation, Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST‑CAN) and Functional Family Therapy (FFT).
Families Together aims to keep children safe at home with their families, preventing removal and entry into Out-of-Home Care (OOHC). It is a voluntary, 12‑month program that provides flexible, intensive case management and therapeutic support to families within their communities. Eligible families have a child or young person aged 0–17 years who is suspected or determined to be at risk of significant harm.
Team structures and role titles have shifted inline with the new contract.
Central Coast
Team Leader - Isaac King.
Practitioners- Maria Sanchez, Keith Conway and Heidi Mackie
Family Support Worker - Kirsten Yorke
Maitland, Cessnock, Port Stephens and Dungog
Team Leader - Linda Jackson
Practitioners - Jade Wright, Neil Anderson and Lynda Goff
Family Support Worker - Brent Hartley
Newcastle and Lake Macquarie
Team Leader - John Peachey
Practitioners - Bonnie Dwyer-Holloway, John Holmes, Alison Buttenshaw
Family Support Worker- Carrie Avellino
The team are motivated and ready to keep delivering this essential service for families in our community. It is challenging work, from assisting to secure housing, to linking with counselling services, mapping out family connections and setting up families in a natural, free and forever network once the program is completed.
Although the new contract has reduced capacity for community referral, please reach out to the team if there is a family you feel could benefit from this program.
A big thank you to the Family Preservation Teams throughout this process.
