Two new programs delivered by Anglicare Victoria in partnership with Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) and Tweddle Child and Family Health Service (Tweddle) are launching in Melbourne’s West.

The Early Help Family Services program (Early Help) will provide inclusive early help to families living in Western Melbourne with children aged 0-18. Early Help is designed to connect families and support the wellbeing and development of children depending on a family’s needs.

Families participating in universal services including early childhood education and care services, primary and secondary schools, and maternal and child health (MCH) services will be able to refer to the Early Help program. Children and families from Aboriginal and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds will, where possible, be prioritised and linked to VACCA’s Early Help and other services.

The Bringing Up Great Kids (BUGK) parent program is a fun and free 6-week in-person or online group that focuses on how parents communicate with their children. Bringing Up Great Kids promotes respectful and caring relationships between parents/carers and their children aged 12 months to 8 years.

BUGK offers opportunities for parents to learn about how children understand and use messages from their parents in their own development. This parenting program combines a reflective mindfulness-based approach to parenting with a focus on the emotional and developmental needs of children.

Early Help is being delivered Monday and Tuesday at Quatin Binnah Community Centre in Werribee on Mondays and Tuesdays and the Braybrook Community Hub on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Bringing Up Great Kids is delivered in person at Westgrove Primary School in Werribee on Tuesdays 9.15am – 11.15am and online on Tuesdays 7pm-9pm

Next week is National Child Protection Week (4-10 September) with the overarching message that ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’. This year Child Protection Week looks at how we can all contribute as individuals and communities to children growing up safe and supported.

Keeping children safe is up to us all. As a public hospital, Tweddle is committed to our mandatory reporting obligations, and to Child Safe Standards. These include promoting the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, promoting the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and promoting the safety of children with a disability.

Children and young people thrive when they grow up safe, connected and supported in their family, community and culture. They have the right to grow up in environments that support them according to their needs, now and into the future.

Protecting children is everyone’s responsibility: mothers, fathers, carers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, coaches, volunteers, health workers and teachers.

Tweddle family workers play their part to protect and care for babies, toddlers and children by supporting and walking alongside Tweddle parents and carers, as well as being role models for respectful relationships. We ensure that the best interests of babies, toddlers and children are at the centre of everything we do.