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Report Stage 2

The participants in Stage 2 of the Windale Wisdom Project were young mothers with between one and four children (with an age range of between six months and twenty years). Most had either grown up in Windale or had family lived there. While acknowledging the stigma associated with Windale, respondents spoke with pride about its ideal location, friendly people, accessible services and community spirit. Many actively chose to live in Windale, while others had returned there after living elsewhere. Participants had strong family connections in Windale as well as a sense of broader connectedness and belonging to the suburb. They spoke of a ‘family-friendly’ atmosphere where people greeted one another in the street, and everyone knew everyone else by sight if not by name. Most participants agreed that Windale was a good place to raise a young family.

The extended family, particularly grandmothers, and social service agencies provided invaluable emotional, financial and childminding support for their young families. They valued the wisdom and practical support of family and the professional expertise of practitioners from the health and education sectors equally. They appreciated the range and reach of social service agencies in their area, and appeared to make good use of services for children and young families, such as the health clinic. Individual practitioners were clearly pivotal in linking the respondents to community resources. Participants reported that once they had developed a trusting relationship with an individual practitioner, they were more likely to trust their parenting and childrearing abilities, and to join support groups thus developing wider community connections. Thus professionals providing support for parents can ‘make a difference’ to the lives of young families.