Last month Rainbow Families made a submission to the Federal Government's Early Years Strategy Consultation.
In preparation of this submission, we consulted with our community. Thank you to all the parents that shared their experiences and suggestions for creating an inclusive Early Years Strategy.
Two things are clear from the community consultation: the power of language to make us feel included or excluded; and that family diversity and inclusivity training would go a long way to remove barriers for our community and support diverse families in the early years.
Respondents were asked if they believe family diversity inclusion training for frontline staff would help to remove discrimination and increase inclusion of our families. All respondents answered yes. Our community is crying out for more inclusive services and are being discriminated against because of a lack of understanding of our families. We would like to see mandatory family diversity inclusion training for all staff affected by the new Early Years Strategy.
In 2017, our community campaigned for marriage equality. While that battle was won, what this submission reveals is that there is still a long way to go before members of our community experience full equality when accessing government services.
We will continue to advocate for more inclusive services for our families going forward to ensure that our rights are honoured. If you would like to get involved with our advocacy work please reach out.
