Inaugural “Welcoming the Babies” ceremony held at Breakfast Point

Dr Anne Aly, Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education and Federal Member for Reid Sally Sitou hosted the first ever “Welcoming the Babies” ceremony to be held in the New South Wales electorate of Reid.

The new initiative welcomed 80 babies and toddlers into the community and connected new parents with key support services.

Community organisations were present to provide practical and valuable parenting advice, including:

• The Infants’ Home Child and Family Services
• Playgroup NSW
• Karitane

Each of the families who attended received a certificate and a gift bag filled with resources while also enjoying a morning tea. St John Ambulance also gave a first aid demonstration to help parents understand how they can help their children during emergencies.

“I held this event because I wanted to welcome our littlest residents to the community. I also wanted to connect new parents to support services. When I was a new parent, I relied on so many community organisations for help,” Ms Sitou said.

“From learning baby first aid to meeting other families at playgroup, it all helped to ease my anxiety and made those early years so much more enjoyable. I even did a baby massage course at the Infants’ Home – it was a lovely way for me to connect with my son.”

Dr Aly was pleased to be a part of the event saying “growing up in Sydney as a migrant, my family would have greatly benefited from an event like this focused on connecting families, services and government.”