Esk playgroup founder recognised in Child Protection Week awards

An Esk woman who saw a desperate need for childcare services in her region has shared some of the moving tales from years supporting local families as she is recognised with a moving award.

MP Shayne Neumann, Member for Blair with Winner of Troy Salton Memorial Award, Judy-Ann Roberts, Lyn Buchannan, Somerset Regional Council and Mrs Yvonne Salton.

A local hero has been recognised for her work in the community in the recent Ipswich and West Moreton Region Child Protection Week awards after taking out the 2023 Troy Salton Memorial Award.

Esk woman, Judyann Roberts has always loved working with and championing children and families, having had a long working history with Queensland Education and not-for-profit agencies.

So when ill-health befell her elderly father and she was forced to leave her job, she knew she wanted to use her experience working with at-risk children and families to give back to the community.

Ms Roberts saw a desperate need for childcare services in Esk and set out on her mission to address it and 12 months ago, established a zero to three year old playgroup.

Ms Roberts was presented the Troy Salton Memorial Award at the gala awards night last week for her ‘exceptional service, dedication, commitment and compassion to child safety, and for support for families and children through the playgroup.’

MP Shayne Neumann, Member for Blair with Winner of Troy Salton Memorial Award, Judy-Ann Roberts, Lyn Buchannan, Somerset Regional Council and Mrs Yvonne Salton.

The playgroup runs twice monthly and Ms Roberts herself writes and designs the plans for each session to ensure children are getting the most out of the play-based learning system and Ms Roberts said they have received enormous community support.

“The playgroup and holiday program are gold-coin entry but we don’t check if people are or not.

“The gold coin buys our weekly resources, like if we need more glue but we receive a lot of donations.

“The local op-shop donated $500 so we were able to buy quality educational toys and some outdoor equipment, and community members have donated a sandpit and other resources.

“The local IGA supplies morning tea, we do sandwiches and fresh fruit. I didn’t want families to feel like they couldn’t come to playgroup just because there wasn’t anything in the cupboard to bring for morning tea.”

The playgroup has themed fortnightly sessions, including messy play days, camping days, and industry themed days like veterinary and beauty salon days.

“We have themed days to expose the kids to different things, we had a beauty salon theme one day and we had one of the local nail artists come in and she painted all the kids nails and put little stickers on, it was great. There’s such great community support,”

But, for Ms Roberts, the playgroup is more than just creating fun activities for the children, it allows her to make a space for families in the community who may feel isolated or are at risk or otherwise can‘t access programs for the children.

Judyann Roberts has always loved working with children

“Our program is an intergenerational program, we have grandparents who bring their grandchildren. We even have a great-grandmother who brings in her great-granddaughter.

“Some mums, especially young, first time mums can feel incredibly isolated so coming along to a playgroup and seeing their child's behaviour normalised in other kids and having their feelings validated is really important.

“Last week I was able to sit with a woman who has a three year old who isn’t yet toilet trained,” she said.

“I spent 30 mins talking through toilet training tips for the little girl and giving her tips on how to help.

“She is in an isolated position with no immediate family and her husband works and had been wanting to get her daughter into kindy, but they wouldn’t accept her until she was toilet trained.

“There was a risk there for her, that her daughter wasn’t going to be able to access early eduction, but this mum didn‘t have any support networks and this way she was able to actually get information not just from Googling it but from an actual source.”

Ms Roberts was nominated for the award by Somerset Regional Council’s Community Development Coordinator Lyn Buchanan and the late Detective Senior Sergeant Troy Salton’s widow Yvonne Salton.

The award gala was hosted and established by the Ipswich Child Protection Week Committee, as part of Child Protection Week that involved representatives from the police serve, the Ipswich Community Youth Service, Ipswich City Council, Somerset Regional Council and Child Safety Services.

The Troy Salton Memorial Award is awarded in recognition of the late Detective Senior Sergeant Troy Salton, who died in a tragic accident in his home in 2018.

Mr Salton served almost 27 years in the Queensland Police Force and was a staunch advocate for child protection.

For 18 years he worked within the child protection space, in his role within the Child Protection and Investigation Unit and later having been made the Coordinator for the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Team in Ipswich in 2009.

Federal Member of Parliament for Blair, Shayne Neumann drew special attention to Ms Roberts’ achievement.

“I especially want to commend Judy-Ann Roberts, who won the Troy Salton Memorial Award for her tireless work in establishing the playgroup at the CWA Hall in Esk. Well done, Judyann!

“These awards raise awareness and highlight the importance of child protection, and recognise the efforts and achievements of people and organisations in the sector who look out for some of the most vulnerable children in our community.

“Too many kids are not growing up safe and supported. This must change.

“There are many opportunities to change the trajectory for these children, by working together to make sure that ‘Every child in every community has a fair go’. That was the key message for National Child Protection Week.”

Originally published as Esk playgroup founder recognised in Child Protection Week awards