Established in 1969, the Caroline Chisholm Society is an accredited and registered community service, providing a broad range of supports with a focus in the specialized area of working with women and their families to promote and enhance early childhood and parenting outcomes.

We respect life. The period from earliest pregnancy to preschool is critical in human life and this is the focus of our work.

The better that a child and their parents can be assisted during this crucial time, the better our community and the world will be. In achieving this, the organization is clearly focused on supporting women with their pregnancy and early parenting to create safe and nurturing environments for infants and young children.

Our services aim to provide assistance to women who choose to continue their pregnancy. Ultimately it is a woman’s choice; our role is to offer support should she wish to continue with the pregnancy. Should a woman choose to seek an abortion, this is not part of our work. We are a post-choice organisation. If a woman does not wish to use our services, she will be respectfully and non-judgementally cared for.

The Society serves clients from all backgrounds as long as they are in our focus; pregnant women, mothers, babies, families with preschool children.

We work with the whole family to support secure attachment, optimize child outcomes through parenting interventions, prevent and alleviate the impacts of poverty, homelessness, family violence and issues with mental health have on parent and child wellbeing. We also work with women to keep families together and prevent the involvement of child protection services in the lives of women and their children.

A message from Jennifer Weber, CEO