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It’s official! Labor’s election win secures $3.9m of funding for First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing to establish a new Aboriginal-led Early Parenting Centre (EPC) in Frankston.
The first of its kind in Victoria, the Centre will offer our community a culturally-safe model of care, grounded in First Peoples’ knowledge of family, care, parenting, culture and connection.
Strong parents – strong babies – strong communities.
This will be a centre for First Peoples, a place where new parents can be supported – without fear or judgement – to grow as parents, to gain the confidence and skills they need to grow up their boorais (babies) and to connect with family, culture and community.
The Centre will offer services and programs based on culturally-grounded principles, such as cultural care and healing, trauma informed practice and connection to culture – which we know is a protective factor for the health and wellbeing of our families.
The funding comes following a report by Monash University’s Health and Social Care Unit that shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families with young children in the Bayside Peninsula region need early years services that are:
Fully funded
Strengths-based
Culturally-informed and responsive
Comprehensive – addressing the social determinants of health such as income, food security and housing, and
Focused on promoting holistic health and wellbeing outcomes.
The University found a clear and current gap in the provision of culturally-safe early years services for families in the Bayside Peninsula Region – a region where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations are projected to grow by 51% by 2028.
Due to the extensive demand for early years services, FPHW already provides support services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families with young children despite it being outside our scope of work and largely unfunded. As the only ACCHO in the region, we welcome this investment by the Labor Government to help us meet the needs of our growing community – especially in the critical early years of new parents’, babies’ and children’s lives.
The funding means we can give our community in the Bayside Peninsula region the services and support they need to be safe and strong – as babies, children and families.
Establishing a model of care based on what we know works for our people is a tangible step towards self-determination which can deliver real outcomes for community. We hope that this investment in the Bayside Peninsula region will also lead to future government support for Aboriginal-led EPC’s throughout Victoria.
We look forward to working with community and local services to develop the service-model and consider how we best meet the needs of parents and families. Soon, we will be inviting community to give our new Centre an Aboriginal name. This will be our first step in engaging community with this exciting new Centre.
The new purpose-built Centre will be situated on the upper level of the new Frankston Clinic on Nepean Highway, which is due to commence construction in early 2023.
For media enquires:
Karinda Taylor
Chief Executive Officer
0477 622 210