Funding secured to continue supporting young Australian parents

Brave Foundation is grateful to be in a position to continue its vital work supporting expecting and parenting young Australians with funding of $4.3 million over two years from the Department of Social Services, announced in tonight’s federal budget. The funding ensures Brave will continue to provide mentoring support at a national scale for young parents to strengthen their parenting skills, achieve their goals and break the cycle of disadvantage for themselves and their children.

Brave is Australia’s first national not-for-profit dedicated solely to supporting expecting and parenting young people. Delivering a program informed by those with lived experience, Brave equips young parents with resources, referral, and education opportunities to facilitate happy, healthy, and connected families.

“This new allocation of funding recognises young parent’s determination to thrive. Brave will now be able to carry on its work to ensure expecting and parenting young people have access to the support and opportunities they need to create happy, healthy and connected families– now and into the future,” said Brave Foundation CEO Jill Roche.

Brave will be able to continue to support young Australian parents, continue to enhance its offering, and continue to provide information and advice to the Australian Government to inform policy and programs that support young parents, particularly during the early years of their children’s lives.

The funding is provided in line with the recently released Australian Government’s Early Years Strategy 2024-34.

“We are excited by the strategy’s vision and the strong alignment with Brave’s vision to see future generations thrive. We are eager to see this strategy come to life and how it will nurture and empower young Australian parents and their children to unlock their boundless potential.”

“This funding will enable Brave to ensure young parents are well represented, including as the new strategy progresses, and that the hard work and the unique nature of our program has been recognised in this budget. We thank the Government for ensuring we can continue to deliver support to young parents and their children at a national scale.”

“Brave can now service the clear demand that exists and continue to support young Australians as they navigate the next steps of their lives. Everyone at Brave is proud to witness young parents and parents-to-be achieving their goals around parenting, social connection, emotional wellbeing, healthy relationships, and education, training and future workforce participation.”

The Supporting Expecting and Parenting Teens (SEPT) program was funded for three years via the Office of Women within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the current grant expires on 30 June 2024. Thankfully, Brave can now look to the future and ensure that many more young parents will be able to have a mentor walking alongside them in their parenting journey.

Brave has successfully supported over 1400 expecting and parenting young Australians since 2018 and there is a high demand for its services. It has more than proven the social and economic benefits of its SEPT program. Recent analysis by Think Impact of Brave’s program indicated that for every $1 invested into SEPT, approximately $4.51 of value is created.