Centre builds family links

By Rebecca Fraser
DOVETON children are getting the best possible start to life thanks to a new family resource centre.
Located at Doveton North Primary School, the resource centre has been credited with bringing the community closer together and forging strong ties between local families.
School principal Murray Geddes said the resource centre provided young families with invaluable services, including speech therapy, family services, child and maternal health services, parenting courses and even baby massage.
Mr Geddes said the centre helped children and families forge strong ties with the school from birth, giving students a great head start when they started prep.
The Rowan Drive School currently has students from 33 different cultures. Mr Geddes said many of the children were from South Sudan and had experienced tremendously disrupted schooling.
He said the centre, built with the assistance of the Rotary Club of Dandenong East, helped bring more isolated families into the community and enabled them to make new friends and establish new social networks.
Doveton early years project coordinator Jeanette Miller said they strived to provide free and fun services to local families.
She said from 28 April the centre would also help run an early literacy program at the Doveton Library called Let’s Read.
Ms Miller said the centre also held a new parents group, and a Mother Goose program that aimed to enhance the bond between parents and children through story, songs and rhyme.
She said demand for all of the services was increasing.
Centre staff ring parents each week to check if they are coming. Ms Miller said this promoted one on one contact with service providers and helped enhance social skills.
“People are discovering services they did not even know existed.
“There is always very positive feedback and the services really do help connect people up to the community and the school early,” she said.
For further details on the Doveton North Family Resource Centre, call 9701 3456.