Term Two Update

Dear families,

Being part of an organisation that is trusted to support families and their children is one of the most significant privileges that can that be bestowed on someone. Each day you trust us to understand each family, each child and support them in a multitude of ways. Importantly, we recognise that such privileges are also coupled with significant responsibilities – ones that sit at the core of what we do at Telethon Speech & Hearing.

One of these responsibilities is child safety. Child safety (physical and psychological) is an unwavering focus for us. We have a strong Child Safety Framework which we recently audited against the National Principles for Child Safety Organisations.

Pleasingly, it affirmed the strength of our culture in this area, along with strength of the variety of measures and structures we have in place. But, given the importance we place on each child’s safety there is always more we will seek to do. In this edition of Parentlink, we have provided more information about how we have reviewed our practices in line with those National Principles.

Another responsibility is to stand up for families when the systems you access are not working properly. At Telethon Speech & Hearing, we are lucky to work across the education, health, and disability sectors. This gives us a unique insight in how things are or are not working for the families we seek to support. But there are too many aspects of the health and disability sectors that are not working for Western Australian families. This is not something we can stand by and do nothing about.  While much of our advocacy is behind closed doors there are times when we must shine the light on issues more publicly. Recently, I was fortunate enough to have an Opinion Editorial published in The West Australian in which I highlighted the failure of the current public health system for children - long waitlists, longer waiting times and the lack of specialists supporting children in the hospital system. We have shared my thoughts in this version of Parentlink and I would value your feedback. This sort of advocacy will continue to be one way of how we support you and, if I have my way, you will see more of this from us in the future.

As we head into the holidays, I cannot wait for Term 3 - Term 3 is always filled with the excitement and joy of the Power of Speech, one of the most magical events of the year.  I look forward to seeing you and your family back for Term 3 and wish you a relaxing, safe, and enjoyable break.