The establishment of a mentoring program is aimed at improving the child’s environment and their experiences, particularly for families on the path to reunification. Educating both alternative and primary carers, will ensure the children have better outcomes, opportunities and future prospects. 

The issues to be addressed in the mentoring program include the following:

• The collaboration and sharing of parental knowledge and skills to increase primary carers confidence and abilities.
• Reinforce the need for age-appropriate play time with toys.
• The skills to recognise the reason for a babies cry.
• The ability to remain focussed on the child during contact sessions, to improve attachment and positive connection.
• Monitor the primary carers motivation to be positively and permanently reunified.
• Post-reunification support, referrals to support groups and courses such as ‘Circle of Security’ and ‘Triple P’.

The mentoring program will include a range of training courses for carers of children aged 0-2 years, or those wanting to welcome that age group into their homes. We will facilitate workshops in the following areas:

• How to care for addicted babies (using simulation babies)
• How to care for traumatised children
• How to care for children with special needs (dietary, medical or developmental challenges)
• Establishing routines for eating, sleeping, playtime etc
• How to support a child’s needs for learning and stimulation
• How to address behavioural issues and discipline appropriately
• How to respond in medical emergencies

These sessions would be facilitated by an experienced Specialist Paediatric Nurse or other specialist relevant to the training offered.

We will be including workshops for stress and personal well-being, to ensure carers are looking after their own needs, in order to be the best carer they can be. Our mentorship program will not only increase the education of the carer, but reinforce how important they are in facilitating a positive outcome for the child.

Our first step will be to establish a ‘pop-up’ Lullaby house to be run as a pilot program. This will involve sharing spaces in medical centres or similar facilities to monitor the success of the program, before planning the construction of a purpose-built facility.

The purpose-built Lullaby House will provide a home-like nursery environment for contact visits between biological families and their infants in care. It will also provide a space for carers to receive training and attend workshops to support the development and well-being of the child whilst in alternative care.

Contact visits are currently conducted at Child Safety Service Centres, which is only necessary in circumstances of violence or abduction risk. Alternatively, our nurseries at Lullaby House will be spacious, welcoming and well-suited for contact visits. Whilst some family visits would be supervised, it is envisaged that this would not always be necessary.

We want to support alternative carers by providing a quiet space to relax during contact visits, possibly talk with other carers or a Put Them First volunteer. This way they do not have to drive back home or wait in their car until contact hours are over, instead they can relax with a book and enjoy free tea or coffee.

The establishment of a board of advisory will include experienced paediatric nurses, social workers, child safety representatives and foster carers, whom will provide a network of services to bring about positive change for medically fragile infants.

It is our goal that a network of qualified and experienced professionals, backed up by research, will address issues in the current care system and bring about legislative change. 

A board of advisory will not only support carers, but advocate for the prioritisation of the well-being of the child. It will also remove the barrier for potential foster carers, who may be concerned there is not enough practical support readily available to them.