Anglicare Victoria’s Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) provides a two-year, home-based early learning and parenting program for families with young children. The aims to bridge the gap to make a successful transition into school and beyond for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the region.
The program contributes to successful school participation and offers parents pathways to employment and local level community leadership. The parents are trained as tutors, and then train other parents in the community to teach their children. The program has been successful in getting children ready for school and improving the confidence of both the parents and children.
Each year, new tutors are employed by Anglicare Victoria to take part in the two year program on a traineeship. The tutors are also upskilled into the work force, including learning how to successfully apply for work and assistance with gaining their drivers licences.
Community Services Program Manager Amanda Thomas and HIPPY Coordinator Jade Thomas both work within the HIPPY program in Anglicare’s Gippsland region. Each day they are making a positive difference for local families and children.
“There’s flexibility around how the program is delivered. The idea is the Coordinator will deliver training to the tutors that are employed. You have the same tutor throughout the two-year program, which builds a rapport,” says Amanda.
“The objectives of the program is to really have parents be their children’s first teacher and get young people ready for kindergarten and school. It’s about providing a space where parents understand their child’s development. It’s about recognizing that it doesn’t have to be that sit down, academic, traditional learning environment,” she says.
“The tutors deliver activity packs which contain information on how they can help their children with everywhere-learning – it’s not just taking the learning concept out of the book, but using it in everyday life,” says Jade.
The packs are essential to delivering the program to families and children and explore various topics.
“The packs talk about social and emotional development – as you get further into the packs, the harder it gets. It starts to talk about relationship building and it gives you scenarios. So, when they are in prep they are still going through the program. Then they graduate,” says Jade.
It’s the positive outcomes that make the HIPPY program effective. Many children have shown an increased attention span at school and parents have a better and more realistic understanding of their children’s developmental needs.
“We have kids in four-year-old kinder get told they are a bit delayed, and that they don’t think they are going to be able to start prep. Through that journey, 12 months in, the kinder teachers will say ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re doing it well because these kids are thriving’ – it’s beautiful,” says Jade.
Connection with culture is also an important part of the HIPPY program.
The parents, through Koori art burn their own personal journey into possum skins over the two years and were presented with the possum skins at the last graduation.
“We know that our ancestors would always imprint their journeys on their possum skins and the older they got, the bigger they got. For them, it’s a keepsake and it’ll remind them of the HIPPY program,” says Jade.
At the end of the day, for Jade, giving back and empowering parents to become positive role models for their children is a passion.
“My job is delivering the HIPPY program; my passion is giving back to the community. I love the program but my passion is helping the community and giving them the opportunities to grow,” she says.
