New pilot to support young Victorian parents with child protection experience

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A new pilot program delivered by Brave Foundation will provide support for young parents in Victoria with experience of child protection involvement. Designed to support young families navigating complex circumstances, the program will deliver intensive and personalised wrap-around support for young parents to build their confidence and strengthen their parenting capability to keep families safe and together. 

Through generous philanthropic support from the Shine On Foundation, the pilot will build on Brave’s flagship Supporting Expecting and Parenting Teens (SEPT). 

Young parents are disproportionately represented in unborn and infant child protection reports (reports made to child protection during pregnancy). Many have also had involvement with statutory systems as children themselves, which can add complexity as they begin their own parenting journey. 

“Too often, young parents with lived experience of the child protection system miss out on the intensive support they need at critical points in their parenting journey. This pilot aims to bridge that gap, giving families the best chance to keep connected and supported,” said Brave Foundation CEO Jill Roche 

“Early, meaningful support for young parents can be transformative. It can help strengthen families, keep young parents and their children safely unified and create positive change that carries forward to future generations.” 

Co-designed with young parents with lived and living experience, the intensive program will pair participants with a specialist professional mentor to provide one-on-one support which is responsive to participants’ unique circumstances. 

Brave’s Head of Program Catherine Cooney said: “Through our daily work, we see firsthand the intersecting pressures young parents face, and the reality that many are navigating complex systems with little support. We know the difference personalised, early, wrap-around support can make — helping young parents build confidence, navigate services and improve outcomes for themselves and their children.” 

This announcement comes during Child Protection Week, whose theme ‘Every Conversation Matters, Shifting Conversation to Action’ echoes the intention set at Turning Point Symposium. Turning Point was Australia’s first national symposium dedicated to unborn and infant safety reports, hosted by Brave Foundation in March 2026. 

A key takeaway from the symposium was that access to intensive, specialised early intervention can help young parents at risk of statutory involvement keep their families safe, supported and together. 

“This program directly responds to the conversations initiated at Turning Point, providing a practical solution and creating a real opportunity for change that can enable young parent-led families to thrive,” Ms Roche said.