Berry Street Web Docs Annual Report 2009 | Page 17

ANA’S STORY
Ana is a 34 year old Iraqi woman, with four children under eight. She has lived in Australia for nine years, but
her husband’s controlling behaviour and violence meant that she was very isolated, knew very little English,
had few friends and no money. After a particularly violent attack, we met Ana at the local Police station. After
medical assistance and Court intervention to remove her husband, Ana was able to return home. Our Family
Violence outreach worker visits regularly and has helped Ana set up a bank account, get her Medicare card
and developed with her a safety plan. Rebuilding her life has many challenges, but Ana is determined that her
children will have opportunities that she never had.
ADAM’S STORY
Toby (10) and Tom (8) live with their dad, Adam. Both boys have an intellectual disability. Adam was keen to
be the best father he could, but was really struggling with poor housing, isolation and a 26 year addiction to
alcohol. Adam was referred to our Family Services program in the North as he knew that unless he made some
big changes, it was likely his boys would be removed. The first step was to get the house in order and set up
some routines. We worked very closely with the boys’ school, who were then able to better support them.
On 27 July, Adam celebrated a year of abstinence from alcohol and is utilising our Family Therapy program to
understand the impact his behaviour has had on his boys. For the first time since the boys were born, Adam has
a sense of hope for his small family.
MICHAEL AND JESSICA’S STORY
Michael hadn’t seen his daughter, Jessica, now four, for two years. The break up of his relationship with her
mother had been very painful for Michael and he had lost his job and become addicted to drugs. With the
support of our Children’s Contact Service in Shepparton, Michael started to build a new relationship with
Jessica. However, he became despondent that his contact was limited to two hours a fortnight and stopped
coming. Michael really wanted to be a good father to Jessica and our worker talked about the important role he
could play in her life. He is now seeing Jessica more often and is striving for an overnight stay. While Michael’s
original goal was to stop his drug use for Jessica, he is gaining self-confidence and has also found employment.

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