BUSHkids Annual Report 21 | 22

Children and Parenting Support Services (CPSS) BUSHkids receives DSS funding for CPSS to provide early intervention, prevention services and resources to improve children’s development and wellbeing and to support parents and carers in raising children. There is a particular focus on helping children and families who are vulnerable and at risk. BUSHkids supports the communities of Stanthorpe, Kingaroy (Kingaroy North and Nanango) and Agnes Water (Miriam Vale). BUSHkids collaborates with other local

The Friends for Life program is delivered into several schools, often with whole classes attending. Children are always very excited to see the BUSHkids Facilitators and are actively engaged in the group. The “Happiness Flower” is an activity used each week where children are asked to colour in a petal of the class flower and name something that made them happy during the week (much like a gratitude diary). Many children write that BUSHkids attending school and doing the Friends program is their happy event.

BUSHkids has broadened the programs offered to families, now including Triple P Primary Care Parenting Program . This is particularly useful within playgroups and uses an evidence-based approach to empower parents with knowledge to support their parenting. Triple P resources are combined with BUSHkids-developed PlayTime Cards which promote play and early childhood development.

service providers and a successful example of this is the Stanthorpe team contributing to the Granite Belt Early Years Network . This has resulted in sub-networks and working groups, including the Granite Belt Kindy Focus Groups which organise the local community ‘four-year-old birthday party’ to promote the benefits of kindy to local families with four-year-old children. Increased kindy attendance in the region, ultimately preparing children and their families for their transition to Prep through play-based learning, is one of the goals of this work.

Playgroups form a significant part of our service, with 18 unique playgroups delivered weekly or fortnightly. Families are very positive about the benefits for themselves and their children:

“Fantastic program supportive of parents and children. Increases skills in children. Cannot add anything to an already fantastic program. Thank you.”

“A great opportunity for my son to play with other children. Fantastic opportunity for our community.”

“We are offered so much useful knowledge on child development, a chance for kids to be social. It is so important in a small community with no other services.”

Like many areas in Australia, most BUSHkids regions have experienced multiple adversities this year, with significant and cumulative impacts on children’s development and wellbeing. Birdie’s Tree was developed by the Queensland Centre for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health , with illustrated stories designed to assist families and young children to cope with the impact of natural disasters. Supporting the mental health and emotional wellbeing of participants by helping young kids work through the scary experiences and ‘big feelings’ these resources are used across all our services. BUSHkids hosted Birdie’s Tree author Dr Andrea Baldwin as she and her team finished a tour of Southeast Queensland. Dr Baldwin and our facilitator delivered story times and bundles of resources at each school and childcare centre throughout the tour.