FAST (Families and Schools Together)
| CfC FP Objective | Supporting families and parents Create strong child-friendly communities School transition and engagement |
| Delivered to | Children aged 0 to 17 and their parents/primary caregivers |
| Delivered by | At the local level, FAST is run by trained 4 to 8-person FAST Teams comprised of parents, teachers and school representatives, and community-based professionals. Each FAST Team is representative of the population served, that is, consistent with the gender, ethnicity and culture of the participating families. |
| Delivery setting | School-based; home-based; community-based |
| Program developer | FAST Australia Alliance |
About the program
FAST is an early intervention and prevention program that helps children succeed by empowering parents, connecting families, improving the school climate and strengthening community engagement.
FAST delivery has been successful in the remotest of Indigenous communities in Australia through to schools and families in our capital cities.
Program structure
Initially a consultative process in conducted together with FAST trainers and key stakeholders.
There are 3 phases in FAST:
- An outreach process in which trained FAST parent and professional facilitators invite families to participate in FAST through face-to-face visits at the family home and at their convenience.
- An 8-week (2.5 hour school/communities-based meeting) multi-family group process for 10 to 15 families facilitated by a collaborative, community-based team (parent and professional facilitators).
- An ongoing 2-year follow-up program, FASTWORKS, consisting of monthly multi-family meetings of FAST graduates, which is run by the parents with the support of the FAST team.
Evaluation and effectiveness
Multiple studies including randomised controlled trials document positive behavioural outcomes at post-test, with at least one study indicating positive behavioural impacts at follow up at least one year after the intervention ended.
References
Kratochwill, T. R., McDonald, L., Levin, J. R., Scalia, P. A., & Coover, G. (2009). Families and schools together: An experimental study of multi-family support groups for children at risk. Journal of School Psychology, 47(4), 245–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2009.03.001
McDonald, L., Moberg, D. P., Brown, R., Rodriguez-Espiricueta, I., Flores, N. I., Burke, M. P., & Coover, G. (2006, January 1). After-School Multifamily Groups: A Randomized Controlled Trial Involving Low-Income, Urban, Latino Children. Children and Schools 28(1), 25–34.
Contact
Website: familiesandschools.org