Young Parent Program

Being a young parent can be difficult,
we’re here to guide you.

Becoming a parent at a young age is no easy task.

There is no right or wrong age to become a parent. Everyone’s parenting journey is different and unique to them. But if you’re feeling anxious about having a child at a young age and if you’re feeling overwhelmed when it comes to the challenges of being a young parent, we are here to help. Our Young Parent Programs are designed to help you become a more capable and confident parent. 

Having a child is a wonderful thing at any age, but if you aren’t prepared it can be really challenging.

This is especially true if you don’t have a family support network of your own to help you. Feeling overwhelmed and confused is common, but it doesn’t have to be. 

Young parents are encouraged to contact CCFSS for parenting support and behaviour management strategies. We want to equip you with the confidence and the skills to be the best parent you can be for your newborn or young child.

Who Can Access the Young Parent Program?

Young Parent Program

To access our program, you must be:

What do we do?

Our young parent program is free and is designed to support young people during pregnancy and also provides supports and skills as you travel through your parenting journey. 

Based on the initial assessment interview, we’ll help you develop identified  tangible goals and form a support plan to achieve them.

Our range of assistance options include:

  • Parenting and relationship skills
  • Knowledge about caring for infants
  • Child behaviour management and modification strategies
  • Providing information about services
  • Assisting with access to services with recommended or direct referrals

Young Parent Program – Child and Family Services

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Inline Opt-in Form - Families

We also encourage young parents to participate in our coursework programs, parent groups and workshops across the Central Coast. 

Further information

Our Young Parent Program supports younger parents to transition to parenthood and ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

To be eligible for our Young Parent Program you need to be a Central Coast resident and a pregnant or parenting young person aged under 25 years. This is a free service.

Families are offered an initial assessment appointment, where family support workers assist family members to identify their strengths and needs in relation to presenting family issues.

We assist families to develop goals that indicate how they would like things to be in their family. Once goals are determined we negotiate a support case plan with the family, outlining how we can assist families to achieve their goals. We can also assist you with brief visits to provide advice, information and referral or support.

In our case work support, we create plans that guides our work together and provides a focus for our work with families. Examples include: counselling, enhancing parenting practices and relationship skills, providing information about services and assisting you to access these services by advocating and direct referrals.

We also provide personalised and structured parenting programs in your home or our office, which focus specifically on supporting young parents to further develop their parenting knowledge and understanding of managing children’s behaviour to equip young parents with the skills and confidence they need to be self-sufficient and to be able to manage family issues as they arise.

We assist families with advice and referral. A family worker is available by telephone to discuss services and programs available in the community. Young parents are encouraged to call the office to speak with our experienced staff.

Our family case workers can meet with young parent families and family members at our office in Kariong, in your home or at other agreed locations within the community.

We also provide a range of group work programs specifically for young parents across the Central Coast region. This includes: Peer support groups, workshops, and parenting education programs.

See our course work program here for further information about our general group work and targeted young parent events, workshops and information sessions.

If you would like to stay in touch with what’s happening in our young parents program join our mailing list (under newsletter tab).