Families NSW used to be known as Families First until very recently.

Families NSW is Government’s (NSW) prevention and early intervention strategy to help parents give their children a good start in life. In other words the main objective of Families NSW project is to support families during pregnancy and in the early years of a child’s life.

Families NSW is jointly funded by five Government agencies – NSW Health and Area Health Services, Community Services, Education and Training, Housing and Ageing, Disability and Home Care.

The basic philosophy of Families NSW is that the Government and non-Government services work together and with communities to plan and develop more responsive and coordinated services.

There are a few key models being used by Families NSW for implementing the project in different Regions. Supported Playgroups, Schools as Community Centres, Volunteer Home Visiting Services are a few examples of those models. Please click on the link below for more information about those projects.

http://203.147.192.57/public/s42_strategy_FF/strategies.aspx?id=1

Families NSW started in 1998 in South-West Sydney, the Far North Coast and Mid North Coast. It has since been expanded into Hunter, Orana Far West, South East NSW, Inner West, Central Coast, Nepean, Central West and New England. Project is moving into Illawarra, Riverina Murray and Sydney areas of Cumberland/Prospect, South-East and Northern Sydney.

Implementing Families NSW is a combined responsibility of participating agencies in each area, which are: Area Health Services (AHS), Department of Community Services (DoCS), Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC), Department of Housing (DOH), Department of Education and Training (DET), NSW Department of Health (DOH) and Non-Government agencies funded by the Government to support families.  

MLA Projects funded by Families NSW