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Caring in a culturally diverse community

Australia is a culturally and linguistically diverse country made up of people from different cultures, with different values and strengths. Carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds share a lot of the generic caring experiences including isolation, stress, burnout, and lack of assistance in their roles. Cultural issues and conflicts are an extra burden in their already difficult role.

Carers from different cultural and linguistic backgounds may experience:

isolation even within a tight-knit community
stigmatisation of people with a disability or an illness
language and communication barriers
caring as a duty not as a choice
lack of information
strong emotions such as anger, fear and guilt
fear of the lack of confidentiality in small communities

None of these difficulties are easy to break through and many of them are shared by those considered as "English speaking" or "mainstream" carers.

Carers NSW CALD Carers Framework and Strategic Plan 2008/09

Carers NSW recognises that carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are some of the most ‘hidden’ in NSW. The purpose of a framework is therefore to ensure the full inclusion of CALD carers in service delivery and information provision across all Carers NSW activities.

The Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Carers Framework and Strategic Plan 2008/09 is a formal acknowledgement by Carers NSW of the diversity of carers and their experience in NSW.

Click here to see the Carers NSW CALD Carers Framework and Strategic Plan 2008/09.

Carer support

The first step, and the most important step, in caring is access to information:

What can I do?
What is available?
Where can I get help?
What are my rights and responsibilities?
What are the options?

Carers NSW translated carer fact sheets

Disability Terms in Community Languages – Online Fact Sheets

The NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) and the Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association (MDAA) have released a series of fact sheets explaining disability terms.

These are available in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dari, Dinka, Farsi, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Macedonian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese.

The fact sheets can be viewed and downloaded in PDF version on the DADHC website.

What is Family Assistance brochure in community languages

This new brochure from Centrelink contains information about a range of payments to support families with their work and family responsibilities. Available in Amharic, Arabic, Assyrian, Bosnian, Chinese, Dari, Dinka, English, Farsi, Greek, Filipino, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Khmer, Korean, Macedonian, Malay, Samoan, Serbian, Sinhalese, Somali, Spanish, Tongan, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Click here for more information and to download brochures.

Seniors Concession Allowance brochure in community languages

This new brochure from Centrelink contains information about the Seniors Concession Allowance. Available in Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, English, Filipino, German, Greek, Italian, Khmer, Korean, Macedonian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Click here for more information and to download brochures.

NSW Office of Fair Trading Funerals brochure in four languages

The NSW Office of Fair Trading has produced its latest brochure on organising a funeral in four languages other than English – Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.

To view translated brochures, follow the links.

Click here to order these brochures.

Carers can ring: 1800 242 636

to find out where to get information about the disability or illness of the person they are caring for
to talk about their caring situation and changes to their situation
to ask for the phone number of a particular service or to find out what services exist in their area
when they have a complaint or a problem with a services or department
when they need someone to talk to.

When language is an issue telephone interpreters are usually available.

Sometimes it is impossible to absorb so much information at one time, and our Carer Support Kits are designed so that carers can read and revisit the information at their own pace. Each Kit covers a range of pratical information and is individually tailored to best suit the carer's needs. The kit comes in 16 different languages: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, English, Filipino, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Maltese, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese.

We also have information in different community languages covering health issues, services, and other relevant areas.

Working in partnership

Carers NSW is enthusiastic in forming and strengthening partnerships with government bodies and non-government organisations in supporting carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. There are a number of things we can do to assist service provision to people from culturally diverse backgrounds:

Information days/sessions are often used as bridges to connect people from different cultural backgrounds to services. We are keen to take part in these and are happy to assist in the organisation process.
Community awareness and education can be achieved by talking to individuals and groups in the community about carer issues, their rights and the resources available to them. Allowing people to talk about their issues and raise their concerns enables us to identify specific needs in different communities as well as clarifying misunderstandings and myths about the Australian system.
Training and information given to service providers and workers about cultural and carer issues also improves general access to services for people from culturally diverse backgrounds. Members of Carers NSW are happy to visit community organisations, attend staff meetings to talk about what we do and how we can work together.
Advocacy is another type of support we offer. We advocate on behalf of carers as well as service providers to improve services and assistance for carers. Current government policies have made caring particularly difficult for people from culturally diverse backgrounds, especially those who have not been Australia for very long. We recognise the importance of working closely with other community organisations in order to assist carers. We are here to link services together as well as connecting them to carers.

For more information, please email Carers NSW.

Use of the information contained on this site is governed by Australian law and is subject to the disclaimers which can be read on the disclaimer page. View the Carers NSW Privacy Policy.

page updated 30 July, 2009