Bright Start Port Pirie and Peterborough, SA
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin No.5 Autumn 2004 p.33-34
First glimpse - project responses to a series of questions
The project setting
The Bright Start project, based in South Australia in Port Pirie and Peterborough, addresses the needs of parents with children aged 0-5 years of age.
In Port Pirie the Parenting Information Centre is situated in a community health centre that can be visited by individuals, families and children. The parenting centre attracts families and children with needs that are more than just acquiring parenting skills. A school holiday program with a difference was held in December - January, attracting a broad range of parents who attended with their children. The activities enjoyed by all were no cost parentchild activities and preparing low cost nutritious meals. Seeds were sewn, a children's garden planted and musical instruments and story books were made. Workers from several partnership agencies including Centrelink, Child and Youth Health, Occupational Therapists and Family Day Care joined a facilitation team to present the program.
A calendar has been developed promoting activities and learning opportunities for parents throughout the region. The calendar allows the Bright Start Reference Group to identify gaps in services to be addressed as well as take into account how often these programs are provided. The calendar project will also enable certain parenting programs to be run collaboratively with other agencies.
An Aboriginal Parenting Project Officer has been employed 0.5 to support indigenous families and work in partnership with the Aboriginal Education Workers in local Primary Schools. A weekly Parenting Support Group has been formed, meeting at the Aboriginal Community centre, and a small drop in centre has been established at Solomontown Primary School for indigenous parents. Their role is to support parents access community resources and services, address gaps and needs in parenting information and skills, and to engage parents, through positive programs, into the schools and community.
In Peterborough the Parenting Information Centre is situated at the Peterborough Primary School and whilst the project has been very successful in engaging parents of young children through weekly groups in Peterborough and Terowie, there has been very little use of the Parenting Information Centre. The materialisation of a plan to re-locate the Kindergarten to the Primary School campus has not occurred, and the Reference Group and staff consider the location is not working in the best interest of the project, and a main street venue is actively being sought.
In Peterborough the Parent Activities Group meets every Thursday to enjoy each others company, participate in a host of activities ranging from crafts to parenting skills such as enjoying your baby and the importance of play in children's development. Children come in with their parents where crèche facilities and a light lunch snack are provided. In addition, a 'one-stop shop' is offered for parents with babies when a Child and Youth Health nurse visits Parent Activities Group every fortnight to provide baby weighing facilities and general advice to parents.
A similar group Parent Power operates every Monday in Terowie, a small town near Peterborough.
Reference groups meet in Port Pirie twice a month and in Peterborough monthly to guide the project.
Stakeholders including workers, steering committee, FaCS and AIFS at the launch
Why is the project needed?
This project serves as a very important agent to address gaps in the communities of Port Pirie and Peterborough and simultaneously helps other agencies and service providers to work collaboratively to address the needs of parents. Many people in Port Pirie and Peterborough have low incomes and don't have a car and this can lead to social isolation. In addition many people have said they don't have many family or friends. Attending programs gives them a chance to meet other parents in the same situation. Many clients have limited education and completing a training workshop on parenting can provide them with a sense of accomplishment. Attending courses, workshops, information sessions and groups can provide the basis of social networks and education normalises the challenges of parenting. The Bright Start team and supporting agencies work with parents educate, empower and enhance their positive parenting skills so that they can then pass these attributes on to the next generation The more information parents have about how they 'do' parenting the more choices they have. For example, if the only form of discipline the parent is aware of is 'smacking' that is what they are likely to do.
What are you trying to do in this project?
The Bright Start Project Workers and partner agencies are providing appropriate relevant programs as well as conducting individual or group counselling sessions to parents to educate and empower them with positive parenting skills. We are also trying to make this project sustainable by involving local community members as leaders or to transfer their skills and knowledge to others.
How are you going about it?
With guidance from the Port Pirie and Peterborough Reference Group members, the Bright Start Project workers are very much focused on following the objectives of the project to: improve partnerships between service providers to more effectively respond to identified needs; provide opportunities for parents to access and influence service providers; enable parents to enhance their parenting skills and family relationships; promote safe and healthy development of children; improve community responsiveness to the needs of families and children; and work with aboriginal families to enhance parenting skills.
