Nurture Taranaki is a home-based programme that supports and empowers first time parents experiencing vulnerabilities, helping them build the skills and confidence they need on their parenting journey.
“The curriculum is grounded in neuroscience and is provided free-of-charge. It’s all about parenting to help their child get the best possible start in life,” said Emma Kalin, Programme Supervisor.
Each year, parent coaches visit around 23 mums weekly for the first 18 months, then continue with fortnightly and monthly visits until the child turns five. There’s also a dedicated dad coach working with around 10 men on parenting and life skills.
“Every visit has a plan tailored to individual needs. We walk alongside them with things like feeding, sleeping, establishing routines and building a strong attachment. There’s a lot of role-playing too – like how to talk to your baby,” said Emma.
As the child grows, the focus shifts to topics like how to read to children, toddler development, toilet training, upcoming milestones and home safety.
Senior Constable Paul Lampe, who leads the programme, says the biggest hurdle in the early days – around eight or nine years ago – was securing long-term funding.
“At that time, we saw a real lack of prevention services around those first 1000 days of a child’s life. We work with families for up to five years and that early intervention makes a real difference for the children. We couldn’t deliver that without Toi’s commitment.
“Our ultimate goal is breaking generational dysfunction. When a child graduates our programme and starts school as a happy social child, we’ve seen that they don’t require any assistance from any other organisation.
“They’re just like any typical five-year-old heading off to school.”
