Our community development initiatives include:

Grandparents ACT & Region. CMS has continued working collaboratively with Relationships Australia and Marymead Child and Family Centre on the management group of the Grandparents ACT and Region. Our organisations continue to provide education, information and support, and to lobby for the needs of grandparents raising grandchildren.  Monthly support and education groups are held at Marymead Child & Family Centre between 12.00pm and 2.30pm on the second Wednesday of each month.

Guest speakers are invited to give information and answer questions on topics the group has identified as being of special interest. Everyone brings a plate to contribute towards lunch.  The groups provide an ideal chance to catch up with other grandparents. There is no cost to attend the meetings or be part of the network.  Special events are held several times a year honouring grandparents who parent their grandchildren.

The program also offers individual support for grandparents such as counselling and assistance in emergency situations (assessed on each individual circumstances). All grandparents receive the monthly newsletter, Grandview.  

Any grandparent raising or playing a significant role in raising their grandchildren who lives in the ACT or surrounding region is able to access the services offered by the network. Some grandparents will be caring for their grandchildren informally; others will have an order from the Family Court and others will be "kinship carers", caring for their grandchildren by arrangement with the local child protection authorities, either ACT Family Services or NSW Department of Community Services. Grandparents ACT & Region provide support for all grandparents caring for, or significantly involved in caring for their grandchildren regardless of the nature of the caring arrangement.

Mary Ford, the co-ordinator of the Grandparents Support Network is happy to provide further information or answer questions about the Network’s services and book grandparents in to attend the support and information meetings or to access other services. Mary can also assist with referrals to additional services.  Mary can be contacted at Marymead Child & Family Centre on 02 6162 5872.

The Grandparents' Story: keeping the dignity of children alive by the Grandparents' Story Group:  The Grandparents Storys Group started with the receipt of funding from the national Illicit Drug Strategy.  Grandparents expressed a desire for their stories to be heard.  The project leaders thought that storytelling structures using the ideas of narrative therapy would best facilitate the telling of grandparents' stories.  A consultation was held with members of the Grandparents ACT & Region Network.  Many themes emerged, themes about areas that the grandparents knew a lot about, and felt passionaltely about.  Nine grandparents , two great grandparents and four members of a 'listening team' joined together to share the stories that were important to the grandparents.  The result is a book detailing some of the stories the grandparents and greatgrandparents thought were important - stories they said - "we would like these stories to be heard by the powers that be...."  Copies of the Grandparents' story can be obtained by emailing your request to info@cmsinc.org.au

Grand Jugglers Circus program:  Grand Jugglers is for grandchildren who are being parented by their grandparents.  Children need to be 8-years of age or older.  Grand Jugglers program builds children's confidence and communication skills through circus skills.  The program is run by Warehouse Circus between 4-5.30pm on Mondays during school terms.  Children do one hour of circus then a YWCA Youth Wokrer who used to work with Warehous Circus spends 1/2 an hour with them.  Children can play games and or talk about any problems they may be having; including troubles with friends, being bullied or any issues that concern them.  They have the opportunity to sort through these using gamesor having a chat with the youth worker.  The program is free.  Intersted grandparents can contact Colin at Warehouse Circus on 62603626 or manager@warehousecircus.org.au .

Relaxing into Parenting Program  Relaxing into Parenting is a primary health care strengths-based approach for first time parents, with the broad aim of reducing stress and anxiety in the transition to parenting.  Relaxing into Parenting is a course of seven two-hour sessions of education by a social worker and midwife in a primary health care setting using a community development approach.  A counsellor especially trained in relationship education and counselling from Relationships Australia, Canberra & Region co-facilitates a two-hour session on relationships.  Evaluation of a pilot program in 2006 and research program in 2007-2008, provided evidence suggesting the intervention is a valuable primary health promoting early intervention program.  The course embodies principles of community development and had a significant impact on strengthening participants’ social connectedness in the early postnatal period with participants continuing to meet up to twelve months after the course.  

Funding is being sought to expand Relaxing into Parenting in community settings and to partner with community organisations interested in providing the program to targeted groups with specific needs, including Indigenous parents, young parents and perhaps incarcerated expectant mothers and their primary support persons.

Other community development initiatives:

Strengthening our services working with fathers at Queen Elizabeth II Family Centre.  In 2008 Carsten Holle a graduate student from the University of Canberra Master of Arts in Counselling undertook  a research project Meeting the Needs of Fathers at the Queen Elizabeth II Family Centre. His report will inform the Society's Strategic Planning cycle 2009-2011, and will lay the foundation for partnerships with community organisations to increase the sustainability of effective social health programs for fathers who attend Queen Elizabeth II Family Centre.  In addition, Carsten completed a clinical placement at QEII Family Centre which included him poroviding individual counselling and co-facilitating Relxing into Parenting 2008 in partnership with ACT Health Child Youth & Women's Health Program and Gungahlin Child & Family Centre. 

Canberra Mothercraft Society continue to seek creative ways of working with the Canberra and region communities to provide programs to strengthen individuals, families and the community to respond to the needs of families with young children.