Volunteer Family Connect (VFC) is a community-based early intervention program providing one-on-one support and information to parents and carers of children 0-5 years', in their own home.

The broad objectives of the program are to:

• Increase parents’ confidence in their parenting
• Increase families’ connectedness to other parents and their local community networks

‍

Key features of the program are:

• A universal, free service for parents and carers with babies or young children (0-5 years)
• Families are linked to a trained volunteer(volunteers receive at least 30 hours of standardised training before they are matched with a family)
• All volunteers undergo the relevant State and Federal working with children and police checks
• The volunteer visits regularly to offer support and information usually for two hours each week for up to a year
• Volunteer visits and training are guided by a fully developed program manual and best-practice guidelines
• A Program Coordinator (who is a trained Family Support Worker) recruits, trains, supports and supervises the Community Parent Volunteers

Wanslea is the first organisation to be awarded funding to deliver this model outside of the Eastern States. For more information on the program and to read the research study, please go to: http://www.volunteerfamilyconnect.org.au/

Wanlsea's Great Southern team look forward to hearing from families and volunteers alike.