Redlands Integrated Early Years Place wins child protection award

The Redlands Integrated Early Years Place (RIEYP) – a wellbeing program for children run by Goodstart Early Learning in partnership with The Benevolent Society – has been recognised in the 2019 Queensland Child Protection Week Awards. 

The honour was awarded to RIEYP in the Community Initiative category, which acknowledges the development of an innovative approach, research or resource to promote child protection in Queensland. 

Since 2018, RIEYP has been working in partnership with local community agencies in the Redlands to deliver programs and services that improve child and parental wellbeing, strengthen family resilience, promote children’s development and build community connection for families. 

The program’s objective is to intervene early to mitigate child risk and increase protective factors and community supports. The day-to-day direct service involves targeted playgroups that aim to build resilient families, are preventive in nature and create child safe educational environments. 

Through collaboration with local services such as Queensland Health, Family and Child Connect, Early Childhood Early Intervention (NDIS), Domestic and Family Violence services and local Aboriginal Family Wellbeing services, the playgroups receive regular visits which help parents to build strong relationships with community services in a play based, informal environment. 

Leith Sterling, Director of Operations, Child and Family Services for The Benevolent Society in Queensland said the organisation was “pleased and honoured to have our work acknowledged in this year’s Child Protection Week Awards.” 

“Underpinning the success of the program is our organisation’s partnership with Goodstart Early Learning. Combining our resources and expertise to provide an integrated family support program has generated many positive outcomes for local families and we look forward to continuing this important work.”

Mr Sterling said RIEYP “is a great example of a local initiative that assists families of young children to receive the right support at the right time, a key element of the Queensland Government’s recently announced strategy to help children, young people, parents and families experiencing vulnerability.” 

RIEYP is funded by the Queensland Department of Education with support from The Benevolent Society through its Family and Child Connect, Clinical Nursing and Intensive Family Support programs. 

More information about The Redlands Integrated Early Years Place can be found on their Facebook page.