Brighter Futures Program for parents
Karen had lost confidence in her parenting abilities. She felt like she could not make it. Then she discovered CatholicCare Social Services Hunter Manning’s Brighter Futures Program.
“Working with CatholicCare has changed my life in insurmountable ways. They have made me realise that the life I was living wasn’t the life I wanted,” Karen said.
The program works alongside vulnerable families facing challenges. It recognises that parents can struggle, but that all parents have skills and experiences they can draw on to help their children grow.
CatholicCare Family and Domestic Violence Case Manager, Stacey Northam, worked with Karen through parenting education.
“We have seen her confidence flourish, because we saw the skills there, and we knew she could do it,” she said.
“We look at the strengths in the family and really building on the capacity that they’ve got. We work on empowering a family to work on the dynamic that they’ve got, and improve on it.”
Karen currently has three children in her care.
“Brighter Futures is helping me with them (the children), giving me tools to work with to try to help me not get so angry and work situations out.” she said.
“The case workers at CatholicCare have been there when I ebbed to my lowest and thought I should go back to drugs and forget about the problems. The case workers pointed out to me the obvious – all the work I have done and all the love I have for my kids.
“I don’t think I would have made it without Brighter Futures. They have made me realise I do matter. I matter to them. I matter to my kids. Most of all, I matter to myself.”