Children

The Community Development Officer Children and Family is involved in identifying the needs, issues and concerns of children and families in the Shoalhaven and may be of assistance in providing information and referrals to Children’s Services in the area.
Shoalhaven City Council is committed to creating a child and family friendly city and works collaboratively with community stakeholders to create a great place for children & families to grow in.

Current Programs and Partnerships

"Breastfeeding Friendly Shoalhaven" an innovative joint initiative between Shoalhaven City Council’s Community Development Team and the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) that aims to:

Identify the needs and concerns of parents/carers around breastfeeding and baby care facilities,
Increase the knowledge of the location of baby care facilities in the Shoalhaven for families with babies and
Encourage more businesses to become registered ABA Breastfeeding Friendly Venues.
Shoalhaven City Council also supports the Shoalhaven Purple Ribbon Project that aims to raise awareness around the issue of child abuse.

“Paint the Town ReaD, Black and Yellow” to ensure our local children receive the best start in life, Shoalhaven City Council is one of nineteen local Councils in 50 Australian communities that is supporting the Paint the Town ReaD program.

In the Shoalhaven, Cullunghutti are the lead agency in this project and they have consulted with Aboriginal Elders who have selected a local mascot for the project and advised us to call our project Paint the Town ReaD, Black and Yellow. Paint the Town ReaD, Black and Yellow motivates the community to read, talk, sing and draw with children from birth, so that they are ready for reading and writing at school.

Paint the Town ReaD, Black and Yellow encourages the community to use a common agenda to read, talk, sing and draw to children using the symbol of an egg. The concept encourages children to read to the Paint the Town ReaD, Black and Yellow egg to help make it grow and hatch to see the surprise within the egg.

Schools, playgroups and early childhood services can nominate for the reading egg to visit their reading groups. For more details go to http://www.paintthetownread.info/ or Council.