Communities for Children (C4C) Bendigo is a whole-of community approach which aims to strengthen the health and wellbeing of families and the development of young children.

This federally funded project is a partnership of early years, family support and broader services who work together to ensure that all children and their families have what they need for a great start in life.

In Bendigo, C4C is managed by Anglicare VIc and has 4 key projects which are provided through local partner organisations.

  • Voice of the Family – Noah’s Ark
  • Parent Child Mother Goose – Baptcare
  • Connecting Community – Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative
  • Bendigo Playgroups – Shine Bright

Being family centred and child focussed is a core principle of C4C Bendigo, with families having agency a key priority in the C4C Bendigo Community Strategic Plan. All projects provide service system support, resources or programs to the Early Years sector and seeks to be aware of and responsive to current community needs.

Voice of the Family (VoF) is the key mechanism through which C4C Bendigo listens to and includes family voice. It aims to better understand and respond to the experience of families participating in C4C activities and local services more broadly.

VoF has a history of working with families to include their voice in a number of ways from individual conversations; inclusion in Communities of Practice; facilitating and supporting creation of the Parent Hub; Parents for Change; and yarns with Aboriginal Families for Cultural connections and resources.

In 2023 a need for a resource to share knowledge for successful family engagement was identified. This resource has been created to address that need by offering links, suggestions and guidance into creating, maintaining and evaluating positive engagement practice with families. It is not an exhaustive resource, rather a place to start or check in when an organisation is seeking to undertake or in the process of engaging with families.

The resource is suitable for Family Support Services, Early Learning Centres and all organisations that work with families to create welcoming and safe spaces for all. This includes organisations who do not work directly with families, however, have families access their space. Eg. Libraries, employment services, hospitals and health clinics. During the planning phase of this resource, research into effective family and child engagement was undertaken. The research included

  • Review of existing family engagement models incl:
    • Voice of Parents: A Model for Inclusion (VoP)
    • Family Participation Model (FPM)
    • Lundy Model of Child Participation.
  • Surveys and conversations with families and organisations who work with families
  • Presentation to, review by and recommendations from key Early Childhood representatives from the C4C Bendigo Steering Group.
  • Research into Community and Public Engagement