Experiences of belonging and inclusion: Mothers’ participation and identity in Australian community playgroups in practice and policy

Becoming a parent is a time of transition and learning new practices. Friendship networks change, and there is a risk of social isolation. Although many mothers find social support in Australian community playgroups, others do not feel welcome. The processes of inclusion and exclusion are not well understood. This thesis employs intersectionality theory to examine the processes of inclusion and belonging that operate through identities and power. A mixed methods approach is utilised to investigate how playgroup parents understand their choices about and experience of participating in community playgroups, and how playgroups are constructed in policy. Interviews with 18 mothers across four playgroups are combined with an analysis of the membership database of a playgroup peak body, narrative policy analysis based on interviews with policy practitioners, and interviews with the founders of the playgroup movement. The four playgroups are a Japanese language playgroup, an LGBTQ playgroup, and two local playgroups. This research demonstrates that social support is intimately connected to parents’ existing identities, and their newly developing parenting identity. Parents need to feel that they belong in a playgroup to feel supported. In a search for such a community, many mothers seek an identity-based playgroup, where they can connect with people like themselves in some way. Other playgroups are organised around a strong sense of being local. However, in a number of ways, the community playgroup spaces in this research reflect Australia’s wider Anglocentric heteronormative culture. I find four narratives present in playgroup policy and practice. The classic narrative positions playgroups as sites of child development and adult social support. The vulnerability narrative is concerned with targetted intervention through supported playgroups. The third, a belonging narrative, is that playgroups are for everybody, but since we are all different, families should search for the playgroup that suits them. The fourth is a narrative of interculturality, where playgroup are spaces where people meet across difference, based on a well-established concept of local connection being paramount in playgroups. Because social support is embedded in identity specific practices and a sense of belonging in a playgroup, additional resources and support are required for more families to feel welcomed and included in both identity-based and location-based community playgroups.