The City of Casey’s vision is to support and strengthen children, young people and families to maximise their potential as they participate and grow in the Casey community. To facilitate these outcomes, we run many programs and events and offer various services for children and young adults.
The 2016 Census indicated that 109,471 children and young people aged 0-25 years live in the City of Casey, comprising over 37 per cent of the population, an increase of almost 15 per cent since the 2011 Census.
This makes Council-run programs and services for young people and their families critical – so let’s walk you through seven examples of the great things on offer!
1 – Dads Matter
The City of Casey’s ‘Dads Matter’ programs offer spaces for children to spend time connecting with their dads or other men who play an important role in their life. These programs are all designed to help dads and other father figures:
- develop social networks with other dads
- connect with their children together in fun activities
- recognise the important role they play in their family structure
Activities include “Cook it with dad”, for dads and kids to cook and eat healthy meals together, ‘Dad's little builders’, for dads and kids to connect through creating and building and ‘Read-play-make’, for dads and kids to build relationships through story-telling and activities.
Dads Matter activities are running right now and are free to join in on; for more info visit the website.
2 – Teenage School Holiday Program
The Casey Teenage School Holiday Program is for young people aged 10 - 17 years and offers fun,
age-appropriate activities at reasonable prices. It runs for two weeks per school holiday period.
Varied activities are featured: recent examples include splat ball, kayaking, indoor climbing centres and animal experiences. The program also offers workshops in various fields, such as cooking, sport and crafts.
The program is popular with parents and teens alike, helping young people to get out and make new friends in safe environments. With flexible booking options and free, supervised transport, the program supports busy parents to juggle the demands of adulthood with the needs of their teenage children.
It’s another example of how Council supports and guides the delivery of positive outcomes for children, young people and families throughout the City of Casey across developmental and life stages.
To learn more, visit the program page on our website.
3 – Maternal and Child Health Services
Each year sees over 5,000 babies born in the City of Casey. Accordingly, we operate the largest Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Service in Victoria, with a passionate and professional team dedicated to helping our youngest residents get the best start to life.
Council’s MCH Service plays an integral role in supporting local families through their parenthood journey and making a difference to children’s early years.
According to a recent community feedback survey of 799 local parents, 92 per cent of respondents overwhelmingly report positive satisfaction with the service.
Learn more about how the City of Casey’s MCH Service helps babies and their carers.
4 – L2P Learner Driver Program
A partnership between the City of Casey, VicRoads and TAC, the L2P Learner Driver program helps young learner drivers who don’t have access to a supervising driver and/or vehicle due to financial or family circumstances. The aim is to help young people achieve their minimum of 120 hours of supervised driving experience required to obtain their licence.
Casey resident, Greg said he was introduced to the program at the age of 20 when he contacted his local council, who were quick to get him involved in the program and teed him up with a mentor driver for six months.
“I was a pretty disenfranchised young kid. I wasn’t employed at the time, didn’t have many qualifications and there wasn’t that much out there for me, especially with no means of transport,” he said.
“I came from a household where nobody drove, and without the L2P Program, I wouldn’t have got my licence. Within just months of getting my licence, I got a job in the security industry and have been employed consistently for the past seven years.”
To find out more about the program or becoming a volunteer mentor driver visit the L2P webpage or call us on 9705 5200.
5 – City of Casey Kindergartens
Kindergarten is an important step for children; the perfect time for exploration, investigation, and learning life-skills through trial and error.
Research suggests that kindergarten:
- improves children’s health and wellbeing
- assists them in developing strong social skills
- encourages a love of learning
We currently manage 47 kindergartens in the City of Casey. Our kindergartens are led by early childhood professionals. They use the most up-to-date research to ensure your child gets the most out of their year at kindergarten.
6 – Free youth counselling and support
Life isn’t all fun and games, and when the going gets tough, young people can benefit from our free, confidential counselling service for young people aged 10 - 25. Our Youth Counselling and Support team give young people someone to talk to when things are difficult to manage.
We also support parents and carers of young people who are experiencing difficulties or concerned about their child's mental wellbeing.
Counselling services are offered at our three City of Casey Youth Centres, as well as other locations.
Learn more about our free youth counselling services here, and remember that all these services are confidential and offered for free.
7 – Much, much more…
To comprehensively serve young people and their carers in the City of Casey, Council offers a larger range of services, programs and events than we can cover in this article.
Other offerings provided by the City of Casey to support children and young people include Best Start, Dads Matter Initiative, Family Day Care, Early Parenting Support, Supported Playgroups, and more.
As well as this “serious stuff”, we also take great joy in running many different recreational programs for young people, including but not limited to various school holiday programs, library-based Pre-School Storytime, activities in the Bunjil Place Plaza, the Fired Up Hip Hop tournament and other youth music and theatre programs, Casey Safety Village Family Fun Days and more!
To learn more about the myriad of ways in which the City of Casey supports young people and their carers, explore our website or follow us on Facebook.