Parents Portal launches in Victoria to provide support at every stage 

A free new online service has been created for Victorian parents and carers to support them through every stage of parenting — from planning a family to early childhood.

The Parents Portal was launched earlier this week by Minister for Government Services Natalie Hutchins on the Service Victoria platform and app, and is now available for use by Victorians. 

Building on information in the ‘green book’ – a book supplied to parents to track their children’s health and development progress – the portal aims to provide parents with more resources for early childhood and beyond, particularly around key life events and accessing essential healthcare services.

It aims to be a one-stop shop for parents and carers seeking information and resources when planning to have a child and includes resources on maternal and child health services, early childhood education, playgroups, kindergarten, and critical information on emergency services.

The service is shaped by feedback from Victorian families and carers and includes important information for parents who have a child with a disability and LGBTQI+ parents.

This is the first phase of rollout for the Parents Portal – it will be expanded over time to incorporate new functions and features to respond to the changing needs of Victorian families.

Future features being considered include a personalised navigator to enable new and soon-to-be parents to access personalised content about their child’s current development stage, as well as a digital birth certificate that will be piloted later this year to make it easier for parents to securely store and show proof of their child’s birth when they need to, such as enrolling their child in 3-year-old kinder.

Victorians can visit the portal on the Service Victoria app or at https://service.vic.gov.au/find-services/family-and-child/parent-support