Promising Practice Profile
December 2008

Hobsons Bay Young Parents Group

Melbourne Citymission

The full Promising Practice Profile is available for download in PDF format (475 KB)

Project practice

Young parent support and education

Project undertaken by

Melbourne Citymission

Start date

Not specified

Focal areas

Supporting families and parents

Program

Local Answers (LA)

Issue

Through the provision of case management support Melbourne Citymission (MCM) has found that young parents are often isolated within their community, have limited contact with family and friends, and lack positive role models for parenting.

Some of our young parents have been put into risky and vulnerable situations early in their own childhood and have not always experienced positive parenting from their parents or available role models. As the average age of these young parents is 17, they are still developing and maturing themselves and their level of understanding of their infant or toddler is often quite low. They are most often in transition from one type of accommodation to another and safety and security can be compromised on a daily basis. As a result of their social circumstances, the young people's ability to parent and to develop a positive attachment to their child is challenged continuously.

Homelessness is one of the main reasons these young families are attached to the MCM program, and with homelessness comes isolation from family, friends and familiar surroundings. By providing social situations for these young parents they can begin to rebuild their lives, develop self-esteem, communication skills and increase their personal health and wellbeing. At the same time they can broaden their friendship group, and in some cases move away from environments that have presented safety challenges to them and their child in respect to risk taking behaviours.

Hobsons Bay Young Parents Group was established to assist participants to increase their parenting skills both through information sessions, and indirectly, through informal feedback, advice and peer support. Sessions aim to enhance positive attachment between parent and child and the parent's knowledge of their child's capabilities according to their age/stage. In addition, through the local Maternal Child & Health Service, participants gain an understanding of health, safety and available community supports.

Program context

The Hobsons Bay Young Parents Group was set up to provide and assist young parents who are experiencing homelessness or at risk homelessness to:

Through working with, and hearing the personal stories from these young people it was evident they wanted peer support and guidance in their new role as parents. However, it was also clear that they did not want to go to playgroups with older women and perhaps put themselves at further risk of persecution or misunderstanding.

Although the focus in this group is on the three key areas of Parenting Skills, Socialisation and Education, Training and Employment, none of this can be achieved until the young parents feel connected with each other, the group and primarily to their children. That is why there is a need to get the composition of the group dynamics right. The right facilitator, the right amount of formal and informal sessions, sessions with their children as well as sessions with only parents creates a climate of trust and cooperation.

By establishing a group that caters for several learning areas and provides skills that will help young parents access mainstream services and programs it is hoped they will increase their self confidence and resilience assisting them to become financially independent. In turn this will reduce the likelihood of them becoming involved with the child protection system, the criminal justice system and the homelessness service system.

Objectives

The program objectives are to:

Practice description

The Hobsons Bay Young Parents Group uses a group approach to meet its objectives. The group approach focuses on:

The content for group sessions is underpinned by the following principles:

There are a number of key ingredients of the practice of running a parenting group for this target group. The parenting group is:

These ingredients are described below.

Participant driven

Young parents in Youth Supported Accommodation Access Program's (SAAP) were initially surveyed to gauge what they were looking for in a parent/play group prior to the program commencing. At the beginning of the program the facilitator and the group members set clear guidelines and goals so there was an understanding of ownership and purpose for the group as well as a set agenda for each week.

Facilitation approach

The playgroups have demonstrated that these vulnerable young families need a safe place to go, they need supportive and authentic facilitators that understand the needs of the young parents and their children, and, they need the aspects of the program that informs them of safe parenting practices. Facilitation needs to support young parents to link into the wider community and offer the opportunity to break down the experience of isolation by forming relationships with other peers that are experiencing similar situations. Facilitators ensure that the young people are given time and space to develop as a parent and adult without judgement or criticism and enjoy the experience of parenting their child.

Focus on practical strategies and communication skills

The facilitator discusses with the parents the ages and stages of child development bringing into the discussion the idea that children learn through guidance and modelling from their parents. Children feel secure when they have a daily routine and know that their needs will be met. This has been described to the parents as being attuned to their child's personality, teaching the parents the use of clear and effective communication. When the parents perceive the child's behaviour as confrontational, they are encouraged to redirect their attention or to learn the triggers that may set off this behaviour.

Parents learn to understand their child's behaviour by discovering their child's interests and needs. This has the additional effect of teaching the parents that through positive reinforcement they too can understand their own feelings before situations escalate. The parents are encouraged to use words that assist in describing their child's wants and needs along with their feelings around situations. It is through effective communication that positive parenting styles can foster positive attachment between parent and child.

Mix of formal and informal sessions

It is important to provide a mix of informal as well as formal components in the program. Many of the parents do not want to be involved with a group that looks like an extension of their school experience. Much of what is done is built on the premise that fun and involvement brings about inclusion and experiential learning.

The informal component includes the following practices

Modelling play. Modelling includes simple involvement of parents and their children in play situations like the sandpit, storybook reading, listening and dancing to CDs and DVDs or painting and drawing. The facilitator (trained in child development) leads by example and sets the room up with play stations for the children and their parents. She talks to the children through simple instructions and negotiates play as well as sharing so the parents see and hear an appropriate way of communicating and having fun as well as learning.

Learning as a by-product of the activity. The overall aim is to make each session light, engaging, fun and informative without formal structure of a classroom but where learning is a by-product of the activity.

Parents going out together without their children. An integral part of the program is having activities that address the individual social and relaxation needs of the young parents and provides them with a restful break from their young children (lunches, pampering sessions etc.).

Affirming multicultural parenting styles and learning. The facilitator acts as a role model and assists the parents in comprehending and accepting each other's differences. The program has a multi-culture membership and this enables the parents to share each other's cultures and individual circumstances. This includes experiencing and talking about different styles of parenting with cultural influences and family norms they have inherited as well as peer influences on parenting. The parents are encouraged to examine their own style of parenting and question where it comes from and at the same time explore different ways of achieving similar outcomes for their child.

The formal component includes the following practices.

Delivery of topics addressing identified needs. When young parents were initially surveyed they were asked if they were interested in going back to school and/or following formal learning pathways. The young parents mostly saw themselves as parents who would eventually go to work. One aim of the program is to inform the young people of the different options open to them in respect to further education and training but also to assist with basic courses that would give participants certificates along the pathway to employment. It was also felt that many of these young people lacked the confidence to seek out work or to enrol in a course. Therefore, identification of their individual strengths and interests was built into program sessions.

Various sessions have been run and have incorporated: how to look for jobs in the paper, how to respond to skills required for the position; and how to assemble a resume that fits the position they wish to apply for. Other sessions have looked at the way each person goes about job interviews, what are the appropriate clothes to wear and how to look for support in child-care for their children.

Selection of suitable presenters. Presenters need to be able to engage and relate to the young people and their children without bias or judgement. Some of the presenters give their time and information free, as they see working with the young people a community service (such as the council play therapist or the Maternal Child and Health Nurse). Presenters who provide a specific course (e.g., First Aid) are paid a fee for their service.

Some of the presenters have been selected to assist with the program because of their particular skill set and have a solid knowledge or working history with this unique group of young people. Feedback is also obtained from the young parents and if they feel a particular person/presenter was not right for them, this feedback is taken into consideration for future programs. Alternatively, if a speaker/presenter is a hit with the young people this too is considered for future programs.

Structured within school terms

The program runs within school terms and there are several reasons for this:

The groups are organised each week and run approximately for two hours

Client target group

It is well documented that young people who are parenting respond positively to programs that are tailored toward their own unique age and life circumstances. This is more so highlighted when young parents are also experiencing issues of homelessness. Under such circumstances, remaining connected to family, friends and education/training can become fractured. The group enables these young people to participate in a group that addresses the above barriers while providing opportunities to engage in "whole-of-person" centred activities.

Age specific

The program specifically targets young mothers between 15 and 25 years, experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This targeting provides opportunity to promote peer-support, reduce participantat anxiety and to develop a program that is specific and responsive to the needs of the parental age group.

Though working with and hearing the personal stories of these young people it was evident they wanted peer support and guidance in their new role but did not want to go to playgroups with older women and perhaps put themselves at further risk of persecution or misunderstanding. The age restrictions of the group caters to these needs.

When advertising or promoting this program, specific services are targeted like Youth Homelessness services, Maternal Child Health Nurses, Social Workers at the maternity hospitals and other family services that work with this cohort. This is done to make sure the right people attend the right program and that no one is put in an embarrassing or compromising position.

Provision of childcare

Childcare is provided for two hours per week by the neighbourhood centre according to the program agenda. This has proven to be one of the crucial elements to the success of the program. It has created an opportunity for the parents to have free time away from their children; to ensure a safe place for their children while the groups are running; and, an opportunity for the children to experience socialisation with others their own age.

Research base

In 2004 the Young and Pregnant Parenting (YAPP) program at Melbourne Citymission sent out a survey to clients (young women pregnant or parenting) in the western region of Melbourne attending youth homelessness services and asked the parents to consider what they would like in a group for young parents. The clients indicated that they were interested in a program that catered for social activities, information about parenting and a component of education, training and employment opportunities. This needs analysis informed the design of the group (Flannery, 2005).

Importance of the early years of child development

Research has shown that the quality of a child's development in their early years in respect to physical, social/emotional and cognitive/language development is strongly influenced by the quality of their environment and parental involvement (McCain & Mustard, 1999)

There are risk and protective factors that determine a child's developmental outcome. Risk factors that can influence a child's development include social isolation, family violence and substance abuse, whilst family protective factors that guard against a child's vulnerability are warm and supportive relationships, strong and stable families with routines and community support. (Australian Early Developmental Index, 2006)

Research suggests that the "new parent groups" model operating across the Victorian Maternal and Child Health (M&CH) system does not reach vulnerable and isolated families (Prosser, 2006; Victorian Department of Human Services, 2004). There is potential for services in the youth and homelessness sectors to work in collaboration with M&CH to provide sensitive, inclusive and engaging service models (Flannery, 2005; Loxton et al., 2007)

Accessible and responsive services for young parents

Loxton et al. (2007) conducted an exploratory study to increase knowledge and understanding of access to and use of services by young pregnant women and mothers. Participants - service providers, and young pregnant women and mothers - attended focus groups or completed phone or face-to-face interviews. Barriers to and facilitators of service delivery clustered into three groups:

  1. common barriers (including cost, transport, lack of family support, lack of child care, instability in housing);
  2. those specific to a particular service (including fear of being seen as a "bad mother", judgemental early childhood professionals); and,
  3. those relevant for vulnerable subgroups such as young parents and young women from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds (including language, cultural conflict with family, creation of safety issues for other participants as a result of family violence or substance use).

One specific finding of relevance to this project resonated with the initial surveying undertaken by Melbourne City Mission (Flannery, 2005):

Mothers' support and playgroups were not attended when young women feared joining a group where they knew no one and feared being the only young mother in the group, and where they had transport difficulties. (Loxton et al, 2007, p. xiii)

From these findings, a set of best-practice principles (including respect and non-judgemental attitudes) was derived highlighting the importance of the relationship between the young women and service providers and the range of pathways into the service for the young women (Loxton et al., 2007). The report also highlights the critical role played by inter-service networking and collaboration in contributing to the wide dissemination of information about services available to young women in general, not just those who are pregnant (Loxton et al., 2007).

Similar program models for young parents groups, such as, First Steps run by the community service agency Berry Street (also in Victoria), have evidenced the pivotal role stable housing, social connection, access to child care and sensitive facilitation all play in enabling access to and continued engagement with the group based program. (Details of the First Steps program can be downloaded at http://cms.berrystreet.org.au/files/pdf/services/first_steps_ brochure_nov07.pdf (PDF 198 KB).

The approach which informed the design of the Hobsons Bay Young Parents Group acknowledged the young people's ideas and the value they put on a safe place to interact with others and at the same time begin to explore the notion of being parents. The literature and past research supports the concept of young parents/playgroups, as illustrated in policy and practice documentation by Playgroups Victoria, 2006 and Victorian Government. Intensive support playgroups aim to promote positive early childhood development and contribute to increased child safety and wellbeing for particularly disadvantaged families and children who are experiencing insecure or inadequate housing (Office of Children, 2005).

Creating a social network for these young families was seen as an important step along the road to reconnecting to their community, as well as in some cases their families, and in making new positive friendships. Deborah Keys from the Key Centre for Women's Health, University of Melbourne, in her 1-year study of young mothers and homelessness stated that young mothers do not feel comfortable attending mainstream mother's groups. Keys (2007a, 2007b) found that, for those young mothers who did attend customised groups, it was a good place to share their stories of childbirth and at the same time if needed to seek other services for support.

A number of recent studies and reports highlight the need for support from agencies, including the facilitation of groups, to young teenage parents who are managing parenthood with limited family and friend support, lack of housing, education and future employment prospects (Keys, 2007a, 2007b; Loxton et al., 2007; Morehead & Soriano, 2005). The authors identify the uniqueness of young parents as a cohort and the many issues and barriers they come up against in reference to their age, emotional and social development as well as their lack of education and low socio-economic status. They are unique in that their perception of the world around them alienates them from the rest of the community and they feel a stigma that prevents them from entering "normal" rights of passage as a parent (Keys, 2007a). Therefore it is with this knowledge that the group model attends to building opportunities for enhancing social connectedness. This includes extending peer relationships as well as building their self-esteem and skills as a parent and as a community member. The group aims in the longer term to assist them to re-enter the broader community by participating in education with the view of obtaining work when they are ready to do so.

Outcomes

Social impact on the community

Impact on the parents

Impact on the child

Evidence of outcomes

Melbourne Citymission's Young and Pregnant Parenting (YAPP) program has done follow up surveys with the young parents groups and asked what have been the highlights of coming to the parent/play groups. Participants identified key ingredients of parenting groups evidenced in the research literature that have been replicated in the Hobsons Bay Young Parents Group.

Participants identified the following ingredients:

Social impact on the community

Parents using local facilities for further studies and child care use.

Families being supported by community through services

Children being socialised within a community setting and understanding community norms - child care, kindergartens

Enrolments in schools

Impact on the parents (quotes are from feedback forms)

Reassurance in parenting ability and understanding the notion of "Good enough parenting".

"I've leant how to be more patient with my child, how to discipline him properly."

"Learnt how to socialise with other mothers and their children. Getting my child out of the house and to relax for the both of us."

Enjoyment of parenting

"...It gives my daughter time out away from home and I am learning a lot from playgroup."

Confidence in the knowledge of their child's development

"I have learnt to give her what she needs to keep her intellectual needs growing."

Peer support

"Meeting mothers around the same age."

Impact on the child

Enhance the parent/child relationship

"I've learnt to play more with my child."

Relaxed parents

"I've learnt more about being patient, to listen to your kids needs and how much the kids learn off each other."

Social engagement with other children

"My daughter and I look forward to coming every week."

"It has taught my child to play in a shared environment."

"More confident."

"The child is learning to be independent."

Health and wellbeing improved - regular visits to Maternal Child & Health nurses

"I know from being in this group that my son loves healthy food that I would of never tried him on so soon because I don't like them"

Feedback form

Client feedback gave us rich qualitative data that verified the need to support young women in their own group learning to develop self-determination and understanding the relationship that they have with their children.

Feedback from other organisations

Policy analysis

There is ample evidence to suggest that universal parent support programs such as Maternal and Child Health and playgroups provide crucial support for first time parents and are an important element of support in the early years of a child's development. However, the models under which these services largely operate are not inclusive of vulnerable groups including young parents experiencing significant social issues such as homelessness.

There is significant evidence to suggest that programs that aim to build the skills and confidence of vulnerable young parents must also address the significant issues of homelessness and social isolation. Indeed, stable housing and the capacity to develop and/or extend positive peer support networks are critical to parenting capacity. In addition, the provision of child care, transport, program content that is responsive and engaging, and facilitators who have relevant child development experience and expertise in youth work are critical to successful model development.

The collaborative model developed for the group demonstrates that a sensitive and user led approach to early intervention can ensure that a group based parenting program can be engaging and help young people achieve significant outcomes as parents, and as active community members. Longer-term evaluation data will enable analysis of the links between program participation and sense of community connectedness, strength of social support, education and employment pathways and importantly, parent/child attachment. Given the context-specific and collaborative nature of the program, it may not be readily transferable. However, the program's essential elements are readily replicable as design elements for a young parents group and further articulation of program content would enable other services to use the young parents group as a platform for discussion with service users and staff to develop their own intervention approaches.

Project evaluations

No external evaluation.

Project related publications

N/A

References

Australian Early Developmental Index. (2006). Australian results 2004-2006.

Flannery, L. (2005). Homeless teenagers parenting children: More than just housing (PDF 617 KB). Paper presentation on the Young and Pregnant Parenting program (YAPP) made at 10th National Conference of the Association for the Welfare of Child Health, 28& 29 April, 2005, Parramatta, NSW.

Keys, D. (2007a). Opportunity for change: Young motherhood & homelessness, a report from the Becoming a Mother project. Key Centre for Women's Health in Society.

Keys, D. (2007b). Complex lives: Young motherhood, homelessness and partner relationships. Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering (Young Mothers special edition), 9(1), 101-110, York University, Canada.

Loxton, D., Stewart Williams, J., & Adamson, L. (2007). Barriers to service delivery for young pregnant women and mothers. Report to the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme. Newcastle, NSW: University of Newcastle.

McCain, N. M., & Mustard, F. (1999). Reversing the brain drain: Final report of the early years study. Toronto, Canada: Ontario Children's Secretariat.

Morehead, A., & Soriano, G. (2005). Teenage mothers: Constructing family. Family Matters, 72, 64-71.

Office of Children. (2005). Supported parent groups and playgroups (PDF 209 KB). Melbourne: Office of Children, Victorian Department of Human Services.

Prosser, J. (2006). Working with homeless families. Unpublished presentation.

Victorian Department of Human Services. (2004). First time parent group resource and facilitation guide for M&CH Nurses. Melbourne: Author.

Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2006). Maternal and Child Hearth Program resource guide 2006 (PDF 897 KB).

Contact

Mandy Baxter
Early Intervention Manager (Homelessness)

Youth & Family Connections
Melbourne Citymission
214 Nicholson Street
Footscray VIC 3011

Phone (03) 9680 8257
Email mbaxter@mcm.org.au

Website

www.melbournecitymission.org.au

More information

More information on the Promising Practice Profiles can be found on the Communities and Families Clearinghouse Australia website.