Beyond Silos:
Seeing the Whole Child
Children rarely experience harm in only one part of their lives. For many children and young people supported by Parkerville Children and Youth Care (Parkerville), family and domestic violence, child sexual abuse and other childhood challenges can overlap. Together, these experiences can affect a child’s sense of safety, relationships, learning and wellbeing.
Support can sometimes be difficult to navigate because different needs are often handled by different services. A child may need help with safety, grief, mental health, school, family relationships or housing, but these supports do not always work together easily. This can leave families trying to find their way through a complicated system at an already difficult time.
“Children don’t live their lives in service silos,” said Parkerville CEO Kim Brooklyn.
“They can’t separate these parts of their experience. If we’re serious about keeping them safe and supporting them to thrive, neither can we.”
This understanding guides Parkerville’s work. The organisation recognises that trauma can build up over time and across different parts of a child’s life. Family violence, abuse, grief and loss may occur alongside financial stress, unstable housing, disrupted schooling or other pressures on a family.
For children, these experiences are not separate problems. They are part of one story, and healing is more likely when the people and services around them work together over time.
This belief has shaped Parkerville’s connected model of care. Its aim is simple: to put the child at the centre, rather than expecting families to fit around the boundaries of different services.
Parkerville’s programs are designed to support children and families at different stages, from early help through to crisis support and longer-term therapeutic care. This recognises that children’s outcomes are shaped by their families, communities and the services that surround them.
How connected support works
One example is Parkerville’s Multi-Agency Investigation and Support Team (MIST), which brings together Parkerville, WA Police and the WA Department of Communities. The team supports children and families from the time abuse is disclosed, helping reduce the need to repeat traumatic experiences to multiple people or move between disconnected services.
Parkerville also provides longer-term counselling and specialist support for children affected by sexual abuse, homicide and violent loss, recognising that recovery can take time and may continue well beyond the first crisis response.
Across its services, Parkerville focuses on:
- putting children’s needs first,
- working closely with other services,
- staying involved for as long as support is needed, and
- understanding that children are affected not only by what has happened to them, but also by how people and systems respond.
Seeing the whole child
“Parkerville recognises that healing occurs within relationships and communities, not in isolation,” said Ms Brooklyn.
“Seeing the whole child means looking beyond presenting problems to understand the wider realities shaping their lives. It means listening to children as victim-survivors and ensuring support remains consistent through disclosure, investigation, intervention and recovery.
“Parkerville’s message is both practical and hopeful. Children experience trauma, violence and loss as interconnected realities. Their recovery depends on whether families, services, churches, communities and governments can respond with the same level of connection and care.
“The question is not whether children’s lives are complex. The question is whether our systems are designed to hold that complexity and, in doing so, help children find safety, stability, healing and hope.”
Donate to help Parkerville support children and young people today.
parkerville.org.au/support-us/donate
