Parenting helpline Community Services and Resources

NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

All parents need support. It can come from your family and friends, health and child care professionals, and information and community resources. Often, the first steps in getting support are asking for it, and accepting it when it’s offered.

Why support is important

Parents who seek and accept support:

• are more relaxed and healthier. This means they’re better able to look after their children
• set a good example for their children. Getting support teaches children that you don’t have to do it alone. It’s OK to ask for help when you need to
• show other people that they are valued and needed. Many people actually like being asked for help – it makes them feel they’re special to you.

Giving others support is a great way of creating a support community. When you offer or ask for help, others feel that they can ask you for help in return.

https://raisingchildren.net.au/grown-ups/services-support

Maternal and Child Health Service
The Maternal and Child Health Service provides free health checks for children between birth and school age. To find your nearest Maternal and Child Health Centre, contact your local council or use the Victorian early childhood service and school directory.

There is also a Maternal and Child Health line, with qualified nurses who can give you information, support and advice on child health, nutrition, breastfeeding, maternal and family health, and parenting:

• Phone: 132 229 (local call)
• Hours: 24 hours, 7 days

Australian Breastfeeding Association – Breastfeeding helpline
If you’re breastfeeding and need help, trained volunteer counsellors can give you reassurance, information and advice about breastfeeding and overcoming common hurdles to breastfeeding.

• Phone: 1800 MUM 2 MUM (1800 686 268)
• Hours: 24 hours, 7 days

Are you finding parenting harder than you thought?

Parentline Victoria
This is a telephone counselling service for parents and carers of children aged 0-18 years. Professional counsellors can help you with issues relating to parenting and relationships, from settling, feeding and tantrums to separation and family violence. Parentline can also provide contact details for community services:

• Phone: 132 289 (local call)
• Hours: 8 am-midnight, 7 days

Early parenting centres
These centres can help families with children aged 0-3 years who are having problems with feeding, settling, early childhood routines and so on. When you call a centre, a worker will speak with you about your needs and let you know what the centre can offer. Families can stay at a centre or attend a day stay program.

There are three early parenting centres in Melbourne:

O’Connell Family Centre in Canterbury

• Phone: (03) 8416 7600
• Hours: 9 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday

Queen Elizabeth Centre in Noble Park

• Phone: (03) 9549 2777
• Hours: 9 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday

Tweddle Child and Family Health Service in Footscray

• Phone: (03) 9689 1577
• Hours: 8.30 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday

Child care is mainly designed for children aged up to five years, but it can also include before-school, after-school and holiday care for primary school-age children.

MyChild
This Australian Government website has information about different types of child care and about government assistance to help with fees. You can search for a child care service near you.

You can also get information from the Child Care Access Hotline:

• Phone: 1800 670 305 (free call)
• TTY service: 133 677, then ask for 1800 670 305 (for hearing-impaired or speech-impaired callers)
• Hours: 8 am-6 pm, Monday-Friday

https://raisingchildren.net.au/grown-ups/services-support/local-services/vic-services

Are things worrying you at home and you want someone to talk to?

Relationships Australia – Victoria
Relationships Australia offers counselling, education programs, mediation services and other help for families and couples:

• Phone: 1300 364 277 (cost of a local call)
• Hours: 9 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday

Does someone in your family have special needs?

Department of Human Services – Disability
This government department provides services for people with disability in Victoria. Contact the Intake and Response Service to find out what supports are available to you:

• Phone: 1800 783 783
• TTY: 1800 008 149

National Disability Insurance Scheme
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a national scheme to support people with permanent and significant disability. It’s being introduced gradually and will replace the current disability support system. You can find out more about how to get ready for the NDIS in Victoria and when it will be available in your area.

Find more links to child and parent disability services.

Are you looking for parenting services in your state?

Infoxchange Service Seeker
This is a directory of community services in Australia. Search for ‘parenting’ to find parenting support and other services in your area.

Find more links to parent and family services.

https://raisingchildren.net.au/grown-ups/services-support/services-families/parent-family-services

Family support

Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria
The Domestic Violence Resource Centre (Victoria) is a statewide service in Melbourne that offers a telephone support and referral service. The website has resources, information and advice on family violence and sexual abuse, as well as a directory of Australia-wide services.

Family Relationships Online
On this Australian Government website you can find information about family relationships and links to support services. You can also visit a Family Relationship Centre, or call the Family Relationship Advice Line:

• Phone: 1800 050 321
• Hours: 8 am-8 pm, Monday-Friday,  10 am-4 pm  Saturday

PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia)
PANDA provides confidential information, support and referral to anyone affected by perinatal anxiety and depression, including partners and extended family members.

Red Nose
This organisation works to prevent infant deaths through research and public education. The website has evidence-based information on topics like safe sleeping, as well as links to bereavement support services.

Relationships Australia
Relationships Australia offers counselling, education programs, mediation services and other help for families and couples. This is the national website with links to the website for each Australian state and territory.

Fathers

MensLine
This is a national support service for men with family and relationship concerns. Online counselling is available on the website, and there’s also a 24-hour telephone counselling line – phone 1300 789 978.

Relationships Australia
Relationships Australia offers counselling, education programs, mediation services and other help for families and couples. This is the national website with links to the website for each state and territory.

Dad and Partner Pay gives new dads or partners, including same-sex partners, up to two weeks of government-funded pay to be taken in the first year following birth or adoption.

Foster carers

Listed below are links to the government agencies or departments responsible for foster care in each state and territory in Australia:

• Australian Capital Territory: ACT Community Services – Foster care
• New South Wales: NSW Department of Family and Community Services – Foster care
• Northern Territory: Carer Community – About care in the NT
• Queensland: Queensland Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors - Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women – Foster and kinship care
• South Australia: Government of South Australia – Foster care
• Tasmania: Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services – Foster care
• Victoria: Victorian Department of Human Services – Kinship, foster and other care and Fostering Connections
• Western Australia: WA Department for Child Protection and Family Support – Interested in foster caring?

Create Foundation
This organisation represents children and young people in out-of-home care. The website has information on programs, activities and events run by Create throughout Australia.

Pyjama Foundation
The Pyjama Foundation works to improve opportunities for children in foster care. It runs the Love of Learning Program in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to help  children in care with literacy and life skills.

Foster care is a type of out-of-home care for children who can’t live with their own families. Foster carers are specially trained carers who take children into their own homes. You can read more about raising foster children.

Grandparents

Australian Government Department of Human Services – Support for non-parent carers
This section of the Department of Human Services website has information about support for grandparents and carers who raise and care for children.

Family Relationships Online – For grandparents
On this webpage you can find links to services and resources to support you in your role as a carer.

Mirabel Foundation
The Mirabel Foundation helps children who are orphaned or abandoned because of parental illicit drug use and who are now in the care of extended family. Mirabel runs kinship carer support groups in New South Wales and Victoria.

Find more information about services and support for grandparents in our grandparent and kinship carers section.

Parenting support

Here are some government websites with  information about parenting support in different states and territories:

• Australian Capital Territory: Parentlink ACT provides parenting information, guidance and support.
• New South Wales: Families NSW has information on services and support for families throughout New South Wales. NSW Department of Family and Community Services – Parenting has practical tips, information and resources for parents and carers.
• South Australia: Parenting SA provides support, services, information and resources for parents and carers.
• Victoria: Better Health Channel – Parents has quality-assured and easy-to-understand information on a range of issues, for parents of babies through to teenagers.
• Western Australia: Ngala helps parents, grandparents and carers develop skills and cope with the challenges of parenting.

Supporting Parents in the Parenting Role

Relevance to Supporting Parents in the Parenting Role (Including parents with ESL and/or poor literacy skills)

For bilingual children: minority language pattern You might use the minority language pattern of supporting bilingualism if you and your partner both speak the same native language in your family home. For example, you might have migrated from Iraq to Australia and speak Arabic to your children at home. Arabic is the minority language. Your children also go to school and speak English with their friends and teachers. Another example is if you and your partner have hearing impairments and you’re raising a hearing child. Your child learns the minority language of Auslan at home, and English in the hearing community. Or you might not be deaf, but you’re raising a child with profound hearing loss. Here your child is the minority language user. But you can give your child lots of exposure to the minority language by making sure your child uses Auslan with other signers in the deaf community. This will help your child feel a sense of belonging, self-worth and pride about identity. The minority language model means that your children hear, speak and use your native language a lot at home, because you and your partner are using it. Raising bilingual children: tips Here are some practical tips for supporting your child’s bilingual development: Play and games Read and tell stories in your native language, and encourage your child to join in. Use dress-ups and be creative! Play games in your native language – for example, ‘I spy’, bingo or memory. Sing songs, dance and play music in your language. Children love music, and melody is a great way to help them remember things. Community activities Look for schools, child care centres or bilingual programs that support your child’s use of your native language. Organise playtime with other children who speak the same minority language. Organise visits to or from speakers of the minority language. If it’s possible for you, visiting countries where people speak your minority language always boosts children’s interest in the culture and ability to speak the language. Go to the library and borrow CDs, DVDs, picture books, junior fiction and magazines in your first language. Look out for cultural activities that you and your child can do together to tap into your family’s cultural heritage and identity. For example, Harmony Day in March each year is widely celebrated across Australia. At home Listen to radio programs in your first language, including popular music programs and channels for teenagers. Think about what your child is interested in – for example, soccer, music, TV shows, cooking and so on. Try incorporating your native language into these interests. For example, you could find your child’s favourite recipe or a typical recipe from your community and cook it together using only your native language. Stick with your language choice, and give your child plenty of opportunities to listen to and speak this language. Don’t give up! Some days it might seem like your child doesn’t want to speak in your native language. But just hearing you speak your native language will help your child learn it. https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/connecting-communicating/bilingualism-multilingualism/raising-bilingual-children-tips