Tel: (02) 9794 1800

Volunteer Family Home Visiting

The Karitane Volunteer Program is a home visiting service which offers practical support to first time families with children under the age of three (3) years. Karitane has successfully conducted a volunteer program since 1994. In 2000 the organisation was selected through a tendering process, to manage the Families First Volunteer Home Visiting Program. It is based at the Administration Centre, Carramar, Sydney.

The volunteer programs are available to families living in the Liverpool, Bankstown and Fairfield local government area. Both programs offer support for families in the antenatal period and/or for families with children under 3 years of age.

The Karitane Volunteer Program provides home visits and telephone support to the family by specially trained volunteers many of whom have their own parenting experiences. The family may be a single parent family or a family finding it hard coping with the new baby, or they may be isolated and have no family or friends close by.

Families are linked to a volunteer, on a one to one basis, and are offered group support, home or hospital visits and/or telephone support.

Families may be referred to the program by a nurse, the hospital, a community health worker, GP or other agencies. They can also self refer. The Karitane Volunteer Programs cater to the linguistic and cultural boundaries of child rearing practices for the many communities in the area. It has grown across diverse cultural boundaries in South Western Sydney where over 160 languages are spoken. The majority of volunteers and families within the program are from non English speaking backgrounds. The service is not limited to families with issues of child abuse and neglect but is available to families who have been identified as needing extra support.

The program’s success lies in:

• The recruitment, training and assessment of volunteers, their ongoing support and our appreciation and understanding of the time they give to the families
• A continuous and ongoing working relationship with non-Government and Government service providers within the Bankstown, Liverpool and Fairfield areas
• An understanding of families and the difficulties of raising a child and Child Protection Issues
• Understanding and respecting the cultural diversity within the area, and continuing to grow and expand knowledge and service provision catering to their needs
• Appropriate assessment of families and their needs, appropriate volunteer/family matching, support and consistent evaluation, review and implementation of change as indicated.

Volunteer workers will assist by:

• Providing personal support for families
• Reducing the loneliness of isolation new families feel
• Helping manage with the new child in different situations
• Suggesting parenting information
• Explaining positive ways for parents and children to play together
• Involving fathers and others in activities
• Helping families to develop and increase their personal and community support systems
• Encouraging the families to develop skills to recognise and manage their problems

If you are interested in being a volunteer or would like a volunteer supporter (and satisfy the geographical constraints) please contact the telephone number above.

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Last modified: Tuesday, 17 June 2003