2010 Geelong Father of the Year Award

Do you have the best Dad? Does he help other people that you know? What sort of things do you do together?

The answers to these questions from over 800 children throughout the region will be poured over by the judging panel in this years award.

The award was launched at Whittington Primary School on Thursday 15 July 2010 and entries close on Friday 13 August.

So if you want to  tell us about your Dad, Grandad, brother, uncle or someone who is a special man to you in 150 words or less you could win a huge range of prizes including a $200 savings account from Bendigo Bank, a night in Melbourne with dinner, a V/line pass to anywhere in Victoria and a 12 month family membership to City of Greater Geelong's Swim Sport and Leisure networks.

To download an entry form click here

Writing tip sheet  4 - 11 yo & tip sheet 11 yo +

New Programs for Bethany

Valuable help for Volunteers

As part of a $21 million announcement to boost funding for Volunteers in community agencies the Federal government has announced that Bethany will receive a funding boost.

This new money will enable Bethany to implement an 'Ambassador program attached to our Housing services.

The ambassadors will act as meet n greet for new public housing tenants in the Northern Suburbs, pointing tenants in the direction of the doctors, shopping centres, schools etc and generally welcoming people to the are.

Bethany has also been provided with another 12 months funding from the federal government to continue its Parents and Kids in Schools Program.

Parents and Kids in Schools Program

Bethany’s highly successful Parents and Kids in Schools Program (PAKS) recently received a further 12 months funding from the federal government to continue its valuable work in schools.

Funded by the Department of Families and Community, Housing and Indigenous Affairs, the program commenced in 2005. It aims to develop family relationships skills through greater involvement and participation in the school community by parents, with a particular focus on fathers. The program runs a series of activities and family events to help create stronger families in the community.

In its five year life span the program has worked with North Shore, East Geelong, Corio and Whittington primary schools engaging 900 children and 757 families through 64 activity based events, such as parents trivia nights, talent shows, Christmas concerts, art workshops and fathers day celebrations.

Kinship Care

Bethany has been awarded new funding of $528,000 per year to provide new placement and support services for those children and young people who are unable to live with their own families in the Barwon Sub Region.

Kinship Care is the care provided by relatives or a member of a child’s social network when a child cannot live with their parents.

Grant Boyd CEO of Bethany said ‘We are delighted to have been selected to provide this new important service to the region.

Kinship Care services will work to effectively harness the capacity of extended family networks to provide the best possible kinship care arrangements for children unable to live with their own parents.

We will work to assist kinship carers to provide ongoing age appropriate life experiences for the child with the minimum level of professional intervention from the formal service system, building on their informal supports and other available community resources.

We will also work to ensure that the kinship care placements arranged for the most vulnerable children as a result of child protection involvement are more effectively established, supported and monitored to ensure that they meet each child’s ongoing safety, stability and developmental needs’ he said

Funding for this new service is until June 2012 and is through the Department of Human Services, Child and Family Services.

  Homeless Children's Specialist Support Service

Bethany has also been awarded new funding of $350,000 per year to provide a new service to homeless children in the Barwon South West Region.

The program is one of only four new programs recently funded as part of the development of the state government’s new 2020 Homelessness Strategy. The Homeless Children's Specialist Support Service will provide a broader range of support for children in homeless families focussing on dependent children aged up to 12 but with capacity to support children up to the age of 18.

Grant Boyd CEO of Bethany said “The impact of homelessness can cause serious and long lasting issues for children including developmental delay, interrupted education and physical and mental health problems. This new  service will enable us to provide a flexible and immediate response to improve the support for children accessing the homelessness service system, thereby decreasing the impact of trauma on the child’s immediate and long term emotional and physical wellbeing.”

The program will provide assessment, case planning, enhanced case managment and therapeutic group work and work to improve access to specialist and mainstream support resources for children and families experiencing homelessness” Mr. Boyd said.

The service will also help reduce the stress on parents by assisting them to resolve the support issues of their children thereby enhancing their capacity to address their individual and family needs.

Funding for this new service is until June 2012 and is through the Office of Housing – Department of Human Services Victoria.