
- Details
- Category: About Volunteer Family Connect
Volunteer Family Connect
Volunteer Family Connect (VFC) is a community-based early intervention program providing one-on-one emotional support to parents and carers in their home. The program was developed as a collaboration between The Benevolent Society, Save the Children, Karitane and senior researchers from Western Sydney University.
The broad objectives of the program are to:
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Increase parents’ confidence in their parenting
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Increase families’ connectedness to other parents and their local community networks
Key features of the program:
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A universal, free service for parents and carers with babies or young children (0-5 years)
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Families are linked to a trained volunteer (volunteers receive at least 30 hours of standardised training before they are matched with a family)
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All volunteers undergo the relevant State and Federal working with children and police checks
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The volunteer visits regularly to offer support and information usually for 2 hours each week for up to a year
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Volunteer visits and training are guided by a fully developed program manual and best-practice guidelines
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A Program Coordinator (who is a trained Family Support Worker) recruits, trains, supports and supervises the Community Parent Volunteers