Speech - National Conference 2007 - Norma Parker Award - Presented by Faye Green

NORMA PARKER AWARD FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE PROGRAM - ORGANISATIONAL

COFFS HARBOUR
TUESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2007

FAYE GREEN
DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CENTACARE CANBERRA GOULBURN
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NORMA PARKER AWARD FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE PROGRAM

Winner
Strong Young Mums
Centacare Wilcannia-Forbes

I am truly delighted tonight to announce the winner of the Norma Parker Award for the Most Innovative Program.

This award highlights outstanding achievement by member organisations offering programs which set trends and benchmarks in their particular area of service.

The award is presented each year in honour of Norma Parker, who travelled to America to complete post-graduate studies in social services in the late 1920s at a time when the discipline was little understood in Australia.

On her return she co-founded the Catholic Social Services Bureau in Melbourne in 1936, which was Australia's first professionally organised child and family welfare agency.

Tonight's winner is: Strong Young Mums, a truly innovative program run by Centacare Wilcannia-Forbes. The program helps young pregnant women achieve the equivalent of Year 10 accreditation.
The program was established in Bourke in 2005 in response to the large number of teenage mothers who had dropped out of school once they learnt they were pregnant.

Funding was secured and the first four months were spent organising activities at the Centacare office to help develop a routine of consistent attendance, build a support group among the young mothers, and start conversations about their futures.

At the same time, negotiations began with TAFE towards designing modules in line with the interests and abilities of the young mothers. TAFE made a building available and teachers consulted the girls regarding course content.

After 18 months 19 young mothers are consistently attending TAFE two days a week and a broader group of 40 young mothers attend playgroup where they have input on health, parenting, nutrition and issues such as domestic violence and financial management. For the first time ever in the area, Indigenous children are attending childcare.

Strong partnerships have been forged with TAFE, childcare, maternal health nurses, the Department of Community Services and other agencies.

Through the Strong Young Mums program, young mothers are appreciating education and learning. They have become stronger and clearer about the quality of life they want for themselves and their children.

They have improved parenting skills and knowledge of children's developmental needs. They are better informed of services and are more confident about approaching those services.

These young women are taking action to end violence in their relationships and they are developing a sense of future opportunities.

Their children are developing social skills and are exposed to early learning opportunities. They are receiving improved parenting and are learning the routine of regular attendance, which has the potential to see them attending preschool and primary school on a regular basis.

The program has the potential to create systemic change and to break the generational cycle of disadvantage in Indigenous communities.

Centacare hopes to extend the program to a number of other communities within western NSW.

The Department of Families, Community services and Indigenous Affairs, who fund the program, recently forwarded this program to the Minister as one of their ‘exemplary' programs. The Department has now funded the establishment of another Strong Young Mums program in Lake Cargelligo.

This is indeed an innovative program and very worthy of tonight's award.

I am very pleased to welcome Belinda Cunningham and Fallon Ord her tonight to receive the award. Both women are instrumental to the current program and they have travelled from Bourke today to accept this award this evening.

CONTACT Judith Tokley 0408 824 306 / 02 6285 1366