Centacare early intervention service Breathing Space is a 2022 finalist in the SA Child Protection Awards.

Breathing Space is one of three initiatives vying for the Outstanding Service Award – Non-government Organisations.

The winners of 11 categories will be announced at a ceremony at the Adelaide Convention Centre next Friday, September 9 during National Child Protection Week.

Funded by the Department of Human Services, Breathing Space is a pilot program for women aged 25 and under who have experienced removal of a child or children from their care and are therefore at heightened risk of recurrent removal in the future.

The trauma-responsive therapeutic intervention delivers holistic, wraparound supports for young women whose support needs are largely disregarded after child removal, and in most cases have been unaddressed for a long time leading up to child removal.

The aim is to improve participants’ quality of life, wellbeing and life skills by addressing the complexities that may have contributed to their children entering the child protection system.

Meantime, the Orange Tree Quilters group is a finalist for Volunteer of the Year.

Centacare nominated the group for its generous donation of 80 handmade quilts to our foster care program over the past two years.

Most recently, the group crafted quilts using Aboriginal prints to nurture cultural connection and identity in children placed with non-Aboriginal homes on their foster care journey.

Eve Bologiannis founded Orange Tree Quilters in 2015, with the orange tree representing generosity. She is passionate about creating special keepsakes for children in foster care, and others in community, and says there “is love in every stitch.”

Nearly 300 nominations were received for the Awards which celebrate the outstanding achievements of children and young people, carers, volunteers, staff, and organisations from across the child protection sector.

The Awards are delivered by the Department for Child Protection in partnership with the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.