As the Western Australian Parliament debated the controversial issue of enforced parent support orders, Creative Nature prepared to help the newly-created WA Department of Child Projection to extend its ParentSupport service across the State.

Provided through the Office of Responsible Parenting, the service offers professional advice and support in the home. It is designed to help hard-to-reach parents learn new techniques and regain control of problem behaviour before it spirals out of control and children as young as 10 find themselves in the juvenile justice system.

The ParentSupport service is based on extensive research and designed to deal with a range of issues including the high incidence of substance abuse and mental health problems in families at greatest risk. The State Government has allocated $20.4 million over four years to implement the service state-wide.

Creative Nature was initially appointed to coordinate Ministerial launches of ParentSupport in the south-metropolitan and Peel regions and to develop a suite of communications materials for teachers, health and family welfare professionals and parents.

The first launch, at the John Curtin College of the Arts, was officiated by the Minister for Child Protection Sue Ellery and featured performances by dance students from the College's gifted and talented programme.

The second launch, at Coondanup Community College,was lead by Peel MLA and Minister for the Environment David Templeman. The programme included a powerful celebration of cultural diversity from the Binjareb-Koorlangka Dance Group, a family of five children dancing to Digeridoo.

Creative Nature’s next challenge is to grow community awareness of the service which will shortly be launched in the Kimberley. An interactive ezine has been developed to encourage the growth of a community of best practice around the ParentSupport initiative.

Caption: Creative Nature consultant Jenelle McCarthy at the Fremantle launch with Geoff Kincaid from the Office of Responsible Parenting.