A ‘Whanau Hub’ is trialled for parents with deaf children in South Auckland
A new pilot drop-in centre, a family-friendly NZSL environment was trialled in South Auckland over the course of a year, led by Geneva Elevator, an organisation that supports Deaf people to live an independent life.
The Whanau Hub was designed for a young Deaf parent or other families who wanted to use fluent NZSL in the home with their deaf children, in the wider Auckland area. This was considered important as there is a large Maori and Pacific Deaf community in South Auckland.
The pilot programme provided a once a week service for these people to access parenting courses, coffee groups and access services.
There was regular 4-hour sessions from 10:00am - 2:00pm on Tuesdays as a drop-in centre from and on Saturdays for workshops and events. Activities and events were set up in collaboration with other organisations such as Auckland Deaf Society teaching families NZSL and other Deaf children-related events.
The workshops and included topics on IRD, counselling, WINZ, budgeting, and events such as a NZSL meet-up at Chipmunks Playland and a First Aid Training for children, with a three day camp in May 2017 at Miranda Holiday Park.
The Whanau Hub initiative received $30,000 in the second round of the NZSL Fund, and commenced in June 2016 and ran until July 2017.