Media Release: Local Mum and Systems Expert Launches New Charity to Drive Better Support for Disadvantaged Families ??

A new charity has been launched with the aim of breaking the cycle of generational disadvantage, with the vision of making Australia the best place in the world to raise young children. For 15 years, Bernadette Black AM, Founder of the Brave Foundation and recipient of the Churchill Fellowship Award, has been leading the charge for more targeted and coordinated support for families and teen parents in Australia.

This week the charity was officially launched at Government House by Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC, Governor of Tasmania.

SEE

D Futures is about improving the way young parents and their children are supported, particularly in the first 1000 days of needing support.”

Mrs. Black said, “I was 16 when I had my son. I know first-hand the barriers and the challenges that you come up against and just how disjointed the current system is, and that is how families and single parents can so easily fall through the gaps.”

“With a dedicated support service focused on those early days of parenthood, we can help ensure we see far fewer young kids in out-of-home care and far fewer families left unsupported during such a stressful and demanding time.”

“To do this, SEED Futures will work to set out the blueprint to reform support services for families and align the many government departments that have direct portfolio responsibilities.”

“This is aimed at putting streamlined processes in place and giving governments the tools to effectively help keep families together and children out of out-of-home care.”

At 30 June 2023 there were around 45,300 children in Australia in out-of-home care (foster care). Of these, 10,900 children were admitted that year, and of these, 1,900 were less than a year old.

SEED Futures Chair, Andrew Tyndale, said the charity will focus on much-needed reform to help reduce intergenerational disadvantage.

“It is unacceptable that 29 children every day, 5 of them babies, are moved into out-of-home care. There is a clear need for government and philanthropy to work together through these crucial initial days of support,” Mr Tyndale said.

Brave Foundation Chair, Professor Maria Harries AM, welcomed the collaboration between the private and public sectors, with SEED Futures bridging the gap via a shared goal.

“SEED Futures has lived within the Brave Foundation for the past three years and I am proud to see it launched as an independent venture, solely focused on using lived experience to better the systems in place supporting Australian parents,” Professor Harries said.

This venture will have positive impacts across a number of social and economic sectors. When even 2,000 at-risk parents are supported through primary prevention, the Federal Government will see cost savings of $1.2 billion over the next 14 years.”

Rev Tim Costello AO is the Inaugural Patron for SEED Futures. “I have enormous respect for Bernadette Black and all that she has championed. When I think of her audacious goal for Australia to be the best country for a child to be born in and for parents to be supported, it deeply resonates. This is a heart desire for most of us in Australia,” Rev. Costello said.

Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC officially launched the charity at Government House in Tasmania on Monday 21 October.

“Our system works for some people, some of the time, and by unifying willing hearts and minds SEED Futures will prevent and stop entrenched disadvantage by creating early opportunities for families to flourish.”