My Child’s Choices workshops open

Noah’s Ark is hosting a new series of workshops – and this time they’re for parents and caregivers.

Registrations for My Child’s Choices – parent workshops are now open and they are free for parents and immediate carers of children and young people accessing the NDIS. The course is being funded by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission Grants Program.

The workshops focus on child agency (also called child voice) – this is when we help children to learn how to make choices.

It can also mean supporting them to share their opinions and eventually letting them be part of making decisions that affect them. But with that support, and over time, they get better at this.

Noah’s Ark Psychologist and Practice Coach, who is one of the developers and facilitators for the workshops, Kylie Matusewicz, says parents and caregivers play a crucial role in paving the way for child agency to develop.

She says that these workshops will shine a light on supporting the why and how of children’s development in having a voice in discussions and decisions that impact their lives, and how parents can be a “skilled adult guide” in this journey.

“It doesn’t mean children make all the decisions by themselves, it means that adults help them be involved in making decisions at the right level for where they are at,” she says.

Kylie says that parents are such an important part of children’s early development and do so much to support children’s ability to share their ideas and make choices as part of a family, but there also may be added layers of complexities and challenges for children with a disability.

“There are some extra considerations around that which might make it a little bit more challenging for parents to navigate this area of development,” Kylie says.

Kylie says one of the main takeaways for parents addressed within the workshops would be an understanding of what child agency is, and why it’s important for children and young people as they grow to be adults.

“And also to recognise where they are already supporting this, as well as leave with potentially other strategies and ideas about how they might be able to extend that now or into the future,” she says.

“When thinking about child agency, it's also important to recognise that each child and family is unique with different culture and values, and so how a family supports their child's agency will (and should) be unique to that family.

“The workshops are also a great opportunity for parents to connect – listening to each other and just recognising ‘I’m finding this hard and other people are finding this hard as well’ can be a very meaningful normalisation of these experiences for many people.”

The My Child’s Choices workshops follow the release of Noah’s Ark Child Agency Toolkit, workshops for professionals and therapists working in the Early Childhood sector earlier this year.

Noah’s Ark is a non-profit organisation founded in 1971.

For further information or to register, visit My Child’s Choices.