Farewell to the Parenting Support Service

Parents in the south west say farewell to the innovative Parenting Support home service.  For the past two years, the program has been piloted through many towns in the south west with great results for participating families. 
 
This was a new service delivery model, aimed at providing home-based intensive parenting support to families. The goal was to help children aged 0-5 years (birth to school entry) to successfully achieve all significant health and developmental milestones and be ready for school.
The first few years of children’s lives are key to their development and provide a lasting foundation.  This time can also be overwhelming for families who are adjusting to a new way of life and may not have a support network around them. 
 
Edith Cowan University has conducted a two-part evaluation of the pilot program and has reported that the  program has successfully passed through an implementation stage to become well-accepted by referrers and clients. It recruited more clients than anticipated, has had a high level of client engagement, and is reported by clients to be delivering benefits to them and their families.
The pilot was funded by WACHS and developed by GP down south in conjunction with WACHS SW.  Services conclude on 31 March 2020.