By Ramona Szell
A house which accommodates and supports young women who are pregnant and homeless, has won a national award for innovation in social services.
Horizon House in Dianella supports homeless young women through pregnancy and their journey into motherhood, teaching life skills until they can secure safe accommodation and independence.
The Norma Parker Award for most innovative program in social services was presented at the Catholic Social Services Awards ceremony in Canberra on June 24.
Horizon House operates in partnership with St John of God Hospital which funds the organisation to keep it running. The house is the first port of call for women experiencing crisis pregnancies.
With approximately 100 volunteers helping to start up the house with renovations, furniture and financial help from the hospital, Horizon House has proved that, with plenty of hard work and dedication, many in the community are willing to care for mothers in these situations.
Since the opening of Horizon House, 11 babies have been born with the full support of staff and carers from St John of God.
There is no maximum length of stay and the organisation does whatever it can to ensure the women don’t return to homelessness.
Horizon House specialises in helping women who are vulnerable or at risk of being homeless with specific assistance provided for education, training and employment opportunities.
St John of God manager for youth services Mike Board said that since opening, staff have noticed the majority of residents did not fall pregnant while they were homeless, but became homeless through disagreements with partners and parents after falling pregnant.
The service is fully funded by the government with support from St John of God which also provides eight centres for postnatal care.
Anne Russell-Brown, Group Director for St John of God Social Outreach and Advocacy Services, said that while there was still much work ahead, the organisation was proud of its achievements to date.
“We are delighted to receive this award, which has resulted from great collaboration between numerous not-for-profit and government organisations,” she said.