A new initiative was launched in Sunbury last week which aims to improve the support for families who are at risk of engaging with the child protection system.
Led by Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health and funded by the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Sunbury Village is a place-based response offering families a stronger, more cohesive network of support services and the opportunity to engage with services earlier before challenges within the family unit become unmanageable.
The project has been in development for over a year, with the work being guided by a group of community members who have a lived experience of the child protection system in collaboration with over 70 professionals from 35 agencies providing services to families and children in Sunbury.
“The plan is to make things easier for families to navigate the services that are available to them,” Sunbury Village lived experience lead Jess Stehn said.
“The aim is to give people the tools to support themselves to improve their own life circumstances.
“It’s really exciting that we are at the stage where the projects we have been planning are coming to life and the work is about to begin.”
Key partners in the project include Hume council, Victoria Police, The Orange Door, local schools, and support services working with families in Sunbury.
Hume mayor Jarrod Bell said the project brings services, families and the community together.
“Sunbury Village will create that scaffolding around our families and children so that they have everything they need to thrive independent of services,” he said.
Sunbury MP Josh Bull congratulated the team behind Sunbury Village.
“This model of Sunbury Village may not just be a model that works here in Sunbury for local families but for communities right across Hume and beyond,” he said.
The next steps will be to establish the Sunbury Family Leadership Group made up of local families who can share their experience engaging with services to help improve the outcomes for other families. The group will meet every two months.
If you are interested in joining the Family Leadership Group, or you are an organisation or service that works with families in Sunbury and you want to join the Sunbury Village partnership, call Nel Staite on 9744 4455 or email nel.staite@scchc.org.au.
