How does sustainability affect integration?
Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain and build upon integration progress over time, ensuring that the gains made by children and young people are not lost due to changes in circumstances, policy, or available support. Sustainable integration requires systems, relationships, and capacities that can adapt and persist through transitions and challenges.
Sustainability operates at multiple levels: individual, family, community, and systemic. At the individual level, it involves building children's own capacity to navigate challenges and advocate for themselves. At the family level, it means strengthening families' abilities to support their children's ongoing development. At the community level, it requires creating lasting networks and inclusive environments. At the systemic level, it involves developing policies, procedures, and funding mechanisms that ensure continuity of support.
Without attention to sustainability, children may experience regression in their integration progress, lose important connections, or find themselves without adequate support during critical transitions such as aging out of child protection systems, changing legal status, or moving to new locations.
Elements of sustainable integration
Individual Sustainability:
- Development of personal skills, knowledge, and resilience
- Self-advocacy abilities and understanding of rights
- Educational achievements and career preparation
- Strong sense of identity and cultural connection
- Mental health and wellbeing support systems
Family Sustainability:
- Economic stability and employment opportunities
- Housing security and community connections
- Parental capacity and family functioning
- Access to ongoing support services
- Legal status security and documentation
Community Sustainability:
- Inclusive community attitudes and policies
- Ongoing funding for integration services
- Trained workforce and service capacity
- Partnerships between organisations and sectors
- Systems for monitoring and improving outcomes
Challenges to sustainability
Several factors can threaten the sustainability of integration progress:
- Policy changes: Shifts in immigration policy, funding priorities, or service eligibility
- Staff turnover: Loss of trained personnel and institutional knowledge
- Funding instability: Short-term or unpredictable funding cycles
- Geographic mobility: Families moving to areas with fewer services or support
- Transitions: Aging out of services or changing legal status
- External shocks: Economic crises, pandemics, or other disruptions
Key actions and considerations for service providers:
- Develop long-term planning approaches that anticipate transitions and changes
- Build children's and families' own capacity for self-advocacy and independence
- Create sustainable funding models and diversify funding sources
- Establish strong inter-agency partnerships and referral systems
- Document and transfer knowledge to ensure continuity during staff changes
- Advocate for policy changes that support long-term integration outcomes
- Monitor outcomes over time and adapt approaches based on evidence
- Create systems for ongoing support that extend beyond initial service periods