Board to support young families

THE City of Casey is seeking members of a new board that will encourage the development of parent groups and playgroups.
The Supported Playgroup and Parent Group Initiative Board would support existing parent and playgroups within the municipality and help establish new ones, according to City of Casey Manager of Children’s Services Colette McMahon.
“The board will convene annually, making recommendations to the Family and Children’s Services Best Start Partnership on the annual allocation of playgroup and parents group grants in the municipality,” she said.
“Expressions of interest are being sought for positions on the board that represent a number of priority groups, including families affected by disadvantage, families affected by disability, indigenous children and families, and recently arrived citizens and refugees.”
Ms McMahon said the program was important to the City of Casey, as the vast majority of Casey’s residences were young families, and representatives of family and children’s services or community agencies were invited to join.
“The City of Casey boasts one of the highest populations of children aged 0 to 4 years in Australia. In fact, Casey has approximately 16,800 children aged 0 to 4 years, which equates to about 7.8 per cent of our population.”
Participation in playgroups benefited children by contributing to their development, and parents benefited from the social support, decreased social isolation and the opportunity to share parenting ideas and experiences, she said.
Expression-of-interest forms are available at www.casey.vic.gov.au.