Abstract:
This paper discusses the establishment of Parents' Centre and identifies the
dynamics involved in this organisation from the perspectives of the pioneering
women and men who remained involved in its development for the first decade of
its history. Parents' Centre was set up to provide daytime ante-natal classes for
pregnant women and parallel classes for expectant fathers mostly in the evenings.
The classes included exercises for childbirth conducted by registered
physiotherapists, and lectures on the conduct of childbirth by registered nurses or
doctors. These were followed by post-natal classes during which the health of
mothers was a focus, together with education about children's development from
birth till three.
The focus of this paper is on the strategies used by Parents' Centre to found a
successful organisation which could spread its message to parents, policy makers,
the general public and professionals involved with young children. I argue that
advocacy was a key factor in the organisation's success in spearheading change in
the health and education services for young children and their parents.
