[Sub ID 4440] Two generation approach for young parents (Brotherhood of St Laurence)

Submission ID: 4440
Organisation name: Brotherhood of St Laurence
Contact name: Dr Tricia Szirom
State: VIC
Contact email: tszirom@bsl.org.au
Contact number: 0407336373

Which priority group of the Try, Test and Learn Fund does your idea support?
Young parents

What need or issue are you trying to address?
We have been working with families and children for many years and have become increasingly aware that it is essential to work with children and families simultaneously on three aspects of family development:
. Early years quality education for the child(ren)
. Support for parents to gain a qualification, training or work
. Programs that assist parents to become their child’s first teacher.
While we provide all of these programs the evidence and our experience is telling us that when we do all three at the same time with the same family we gain significant and lasting results.
Evidence from organisations like the Annie E Casey Foundation and the Aspen Institute in the USA and research in the UK demonstrate the value of this approach.
The argument underpinning the Annie E. Casey two-generation approach is this: children who obtain access to quality early childhood learning, while their parents simultaneously take part in high quality workforce development programs, have an increased likelihood of sustaining early developmental gains which function as a launch pad for their own economic success.

What is your idea?
Our idea is to conduct a 2Generation approach that brings the parents and children together in three key ways at the same time:
.Programs with parents for education/training and employment
. Children in high quality early education
. Parents and children in learning experiences that help the parent be the child’s first teacher and create a rich home learning environment.