The Andrews Labor Government is providing more families in the Latrobe Valley region with free parenting support.
Minister for Early Childhood Education Jenny Mikakos today encouraged parents to attend more free seminars and workshops that are being held through the evidence-based Triple P – Positive Parenting Program.
Following 30 successful seminars in July and August, a further 40 will be held in Sale, Maffra, Yarram, Traralgon, Moe, Churchill, Warragul and Drouin from 22 October.
They will include easy-to-follow skills and strategies on building children’s resilience, helping develop their social and emotional skills and providing parents with strategies to promote positive behaviour.
The Labor Government is funding the program through the $9.9 million Supporting Families of the Latrobe Valley investment package.
This includes providing families with access to Supported Playgroups, which helps them build their parenting skills while meeting other parents. Supported playgroups are run by trained facilitators who are able to provide advice and information to parents.
New parents can also get support from local Maternal and Child Health nurses who were recently trained by Monash University to implement the What Were We Thinking Program. This will assist first-time parents develop strategies to help their babies sleep and settle in those challenging first few months.
Parents can also call the Parentline on 13 22 89, the Maternal and Child Health Line on 13 22 29 or use the MCH App to get reliable parenting advice whenever they need it. We also recently launched a parenting website with reliable child health and development advice which is available at parenting.vic.gov.au.
Work is underway through the Government’s landmark $202.1 million Education State Early Childhood Reform Plan to ensure kids are ready for kinder, ready for school and ready for life. The Victorian Budget 2018/19 invested a further $135.9 million toward realising our early childhood vision.
