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Warragul based pregnancy and parenting support service Olivia’s Place has requested that Baw Baw Shire’s maternal and child health service recognise it as a referral pathway for local families.

A report recently presented to council outlined council’s maternal and child health service and its relationship with other service providers.

The report followed an in-committee community briefing with Olivia’s Place representatives in April.

Council’s MCH service is linked with a number of other medical and support services through formal referral pathways.

The report to council said referrals to community based agencies were assessed on an individual, as needed basis.

The report said council supported Olivia’s Place through the dissemination of the Olive Guide at both the Drouin and Warragul customer service centres.

“Physical space limitations at the MCH consulting rooms in Warragul and Drouin dictates that only council program information is made available in the public space,” the report said.

A priority outlined in the current Municipal Early Years Plan (2015-2018) is that council provides relationships and partnerships to support families and communities.

A recommendation to achieve this is establishing a listing of services available to children and families in Baw Baw. This will be made available online.

“MCH nursing schedules, council’s EBA and increasing demands on the service does not allow capacity for staff to work directly with external agencies, however staff may choose to offer their service and expertise in a volunteer capacity,” the report said.

In a submission to council, Olivia’s Place president Carmel Riley said they were concerned the maternal and child health service did not provide a pathway or collaborative arrangement to work with Olivia’s Place.

“Olivia’s Place is excluded from council’s formal referral network,” Ms Riley said.

“Olivia’s Place is seeking better outcomes for local families.

Ms Riley requested that council re-instate Olivia’s Place brochures at maternal and child health centres.

She said council was not providing information on all services available to families and therefore some families will be at increased vulnerability.

Mayor Joe Gauci said one of the important things to come out of this process was opening up the conversation with service providers like Olivia’s Place.

“This is a report on how we can improve what we deliver. It has made us identify areas that we need to keep working on,” he said.

The report to council said Olivia’s Place also was involved in the Department of Education and Training’s “First 1000 Days” program.

Maternal and child health staff were involved in the project that sought to address the question: How might we enable parents to provide the thriving environment they want for their children in their 1st 1000 days?

Partners in the project are Anglicare, West Gippsland Healthcare Group, Quantum Support Services, DET, and Olivia’s Place.

The report said council’s family and children’s services coordinator has taken on the role as team sponsor for the Baw Baw 1000 days project.

“This role will involve working and supporting all partners, including Olivia’s Place, to further refine and develop their project and design an accessible BawBawKids Mobile Phone App and Family Friendly Places.”

Cr Jessica O’Donnell said the shire had a very well attended and robust maternal child health service.

She said with ongoing population growth, it was expected 600 newborn babies would receive a visit from the service this year.

Cr O’Donnell said the maternal and child health service was only one service and staff referred families onto many other service providers to ensure their needs were met.

She said there were both formal and informal referral pathways.

Cr Mikaela Power said there was a lot of research to say the first 1000 days is vital and the more time and effort we put in is an important part of what we do.