Kippax Kids groups find a secure future

UnitingCare Kippax welcomed the June 8 announcement that the Kippax Kids program has been given long-term security in the 2012-13 ACT Budget.

Kippax Kids has been an essential element of community support in West Belconnen for over 20 years and has been partially funded by the ACT Government for the past decade.

The program currently supports over 300 people each week, with both general and specialised services for families of young children.

Executive Minister of UnitingCare Kippax, Gordon Ramsay, believes that the strong cooperative work of staff and volunteers makes an enormous difference in the lives of parents and children.

“Members of the Kippax Kids groups can enjoy times of building relationships with other people in the same stage of life,” said Mr Ramsay.

“They can draw on the wisdom and experience of volunteers who can assure them that what they are going through is quite normal.

They can receive specialist support from trained counsellors if the need arises.

And they have easy and ready access to a wide range of other services at UnitingCare Kippax, depending on what is happening in their lives.” Kippax Kids currently has groups meeting five days per week, with both morning and afternoon times available.

Specialist groups — such as the “Blokes group” for families where a male is the primary care giver — are established as a response to community needs.

The long-term partnership between UnitingCare Kippax, the ACT Government and the local community is a demonstration that we can all be involved in creating a strong and supportive community.

“Kippax Kids continues to be an important way of developing people’s involvement with the community.

“A young adult who now regularly volunteers his time to a range of community services for young people in West Belconnen was himself a child in the earliest Kippax Kids groups in the late 1980s.

“It’s a program that just keeps giving” said Mr Ramsay.

New funding

The  $93,000, three-year investment in Kippax Kids will see the initiative continue its work in helping children develop a positive start in life and enabling parents to build networks in their community.

Minister for Community Services Joy Burch said, “The ACT Government has been supporting UnitingCare Kippax to run Kippax Kids for more than a decade I am happy to be able to continue this valuable relationship.

“This program has been successful in supporting children who are at the early stages of developing behavioural issues, preventing the need for them to have more intensive support.

“Similarly, it has helped parents and families build relationships in the community; some members of the current staff at UnitingCare Kippax first came into contact with the organisation through Kippax Kids.”

Kippax Kids is coordinated by a community support worker with professional counselling qualifications, who works with a team of trained and supervised volunteers who offer parental and family support.

Kippax Kids staff also liaise with the ACT Government’s West Belconnen Child and Family Centre to assist families in accessing a range of other services and supports.

“Kippax Kids is an important part of the Government’s early intervention work and is

complemented by other initiatives.

“This includes the $8.5 million Child, Youth and Family Support Program which provides funding to 27 organisations to deliver outreach and early intervention services to vulnerable children, young people and families.”