澳洲弱能兒童協康會

Chinese Parents Association – Children With Disabilities Inc.  Registered NDIS Service Provider

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The “Chinese Group Home” started its operation in 1988 at Marrickville with a Residential Service Coordinator in charge of group home administration.  CPA administration office was also set up in the same premise.  With incessant demands in the office administration, in August 1998, the Management Committee appointed an Executive officer responsible for the administrative work of the Association and the supervision of group home staff.  In April 1999, CPA moved its administration office to the Bankstown-Canterbury Migrant Resource Centre at Campsie, and it became the CPA Main Office till now.​


From 2000 onward, CPA was very involved in implementing programs and activities tomeet the needs of people with disabilities. The ‘Music Connection Project’ introduced music therapy to the parents and their children and Ms Lilian Kong embarked on ‘Smiling Kids In Action’ that brought in the early intervention activities to young children under five.  These projects benefited all involved and initiated the formation of parent support network. 


In 2003, CPA made the decision to change its strategy direction: that it would concentrate on providing more programs and activities to service parent members and children with disabilities and the management of Group Home was discontinued.


From 2003 to 2008 CPA had successfully applied grants and funding from various charitable organizations and City Councils undertaking weekend/vacation activities for children with disabilities and their families. In 2005, the Chinese name of CPA had been altered to make it more acceptable by members. In 2006, CPA was financially supported in publishing the handbook on "The Healthcare and Support for Children with Intellectual Disability”.


​To secure available financial resources, CPA was grateful for the support from Cr Ernest Wong, his friends, and CPA Service Co-ordinator, Pinkie Leung in its fundraising activities: Fund Raising Dinners in October 2003 and in July 2005; Charity Concert 2006 and All Star Charity Concert 2007 at Sydney Town Hall.

From 2008 onwards, CPA had obtained various kinds of funding to run weekend programs and other recreational/educational activities for the children with disabilities. We also offered mutual support to parents, carers and family members by setting up the parent support networks: “Dad to Dad” for fathers, “Mum to Mum’ for mothers and “SibSpace” for siblings who have brothers/sisters with disabilities.  We also ran periodical volunteer training programs for disability service volunteers.


To provide the updated information, in recent years, CPA has consistently published information books for the members, and in the same time, tried to raise the awareness of the public towards the special needs of the people with disabilities and their families.


One of CPA’s mottos is to “Accept our disability, Develop our ability, Uncover our potentiality”. To carry out this mission, CPA has been organizing various art programs, as “the starting point”, to offer to young people with disabilities an opportunity to explore in art forms and music.  Their products and artwork were collected and put in art exhibition at various community centres and libraries for appreciation. CPA also complied some of the artworks into an art book “World of Colours”.  The musical ability of the CPA KIDz cannot be ignored.  CPA also produced a Compact Disc and a DVD which recorded their singing.

 

CPA’s good work cannot be made possible without the contribution of the parents who are also volunteers.  They had accomplished brilliant achievements for themselves as well as for our Association:

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  • 2010  Local Carers Award in Canterbury issued by NSW Government        
  • 2012  Volunteer team of the year in  Inner West Region of Sydney        
  • 2014  Charity Partner of City of Sydney Chinese New Year Festival        
  • 2014  Canterbury Community Group of the Year Award

 

CPA is grateful for the support from various sections of the community and it is our mission to go along with our children with disabilities and their families in achieving their optimal growth, ensuring them enjoy a rich and meaningful life as far as possible!

               2014      Charity Partner of City of Sydney Council in Chinese New Year Festival                                                                                            Canterbury Community Group of the Year Award

​​                          

                             2013​​     Publication of Art Book “Our World of Colours”

​                                            Launch of DVD “The Way to Harmony”
​                                            Celebration of Silver Jubilee at Marigold Restaurant, City
                                            Held art exhibition at various locations

                            2012      Publication of Booklet “Deep in Dad’s Mind”
​                                           “Outstanding Achievement Award” for the 2012 CNY Twilight Parade
​                                           “2012 Regional Volunteer Team Award” in Inner West Region of Sydney

                            2011      Launch of CD “Set Me Free”

                           2010      Publication of Booklet “Growing Path– Raising a Child with Disabilities”
​                                          “Local Carers Award” in Canterbury issued by the NSW Government 

                          2009      Establishment of CPA Website: www.chineseparents.org.au

                         2008      20th anniversary party held at Maxim Restaurant, Bankstown.

                        2007      All Star Charity Concert 2007 at Sydney Town Hall.

                       2006     Publication of CPA book “The Healthcare and Support for Children with an Intellectual Disability”
                           
                       2005    The Chinese Name of CPA was changed to 澳洲弱能兒童協康會
                             Fund-Raising Dinner in July 2005.
  



                      2003    The management of Chinese Group Home was discontinued.
                                         Fund-Raising Dinner in October 2003

                            2001    "Smiling Kids in Action” funded by ACCF was organised by Lilian Kong.

​                     2000    The Project: “Music Connection” was funded by Canterbury Council introducing Music therapy                                                to Children with disabilities and their parents.

                        1999     Set up of CPA office at the Bankstown-Canterbury Migrant Resource  Centre at Campsie.
                                      CPA changed its financial year end from September 30 to June 30.
​                                      The Project “Girls Network” was funded by Community Relation Commission.

                       1998      An Executive Officer was appointed to be responsible for the administrative work of the                                                           Association and the supervision of Group Home staff.

                       1994      Accounting support from EPDP was discontinued.  CPA managed its own finance.   
                     
                       1989     Stephen Chan became the Chinese Community Worker when Rosemary Lock resigned.
                                     The management of the Chinese Group Home was transferred from  EPDP to the                                                                        Chinese Parents Association and support  continually received from the EPDP.                 

                  1987-    The Chinese Parents Association –Children with Disabilities Inc. (CPA) was incorporated on 14/1/1988
                   1988      Rosemary Lock, the Chinese Community Worker, applied for Government  funding to the                                                         Chinese Group Home at Marrickville, NSW.

​                                  The Australian Chinese Community Association held a charity walk for CPA and raised                                                               $5000 for purchase of furniture for the Chinese Group Home.

                                  Ethnic Child Care Family and Community Services Co-operative Ltd  provided accounting

                                  support to the  Chinese Group Home.