Mid Murray Mums is aiming to connect young, isolated families around the Mid Murray region
A group of proactive parents are aiming to connect the region’s families to address developmental vulnerabilities in young children.
Three mothers have partnered with Mid Murray Family Connections (MMFC) to create a social media tool to help isolated parents connect online.
Together the women have formed Mid Murray Mums ‐ a closed Facebook group for parents and carers of children aged zero to five years who live in, or are part of the council district.
The initiative aims to informally connect parents online and build awareness and education on what services, programs and support systems available for families in the district.
MMFC coordinator Kiran King said the district’s expansive geography comes with social isolation issues which could be challenging for new families.
“Through extensive engagement with local parents, what we have found is that social isolation is likely to be a key reason for this,” she said.
“While there’s a range of strategies we can undertake at an agency level to address this, I believe it will be the proactive support of parents living in these communities which can positively influence change for local children – the Mid Murray Mums initiative is a key part of this.”
Mrs King referenced key data from the recently released State of Australia’s Mothers report from Save the Children Australia, which shows that mothers living in the Mid Murray had one of the lowest rankings for maternal well-being in the state – sitting 67th out of 69 council areas.
“There’s a lot of work to do in order to rebuild local families support networks, resilience and social confidence in Mid Murray.
“We’ve come a long way since the introduction of MMFC in 2013, but we’re now at a fundamental crossroad where we’re seeing the community taking ownership of the issues and finding ways to address it themselves.”
Mid Murray Mums has also designed a new magnet with details of the program that it will distribute to new parents across the district.