Page 567 - Week 02 - Thursday, 24 March 2022
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Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for children and families. The impacts of COVID-19 have further magnified some of the risks and challenges for children and families, and they have highlighted the importance of supporting children in early childhood. The pandemic has interrupted face-to-face learning and social interaction and, in some cases, has limited access to healthcare and support services. This has left some families feeling more isolated or struggling to access the care and support they need. The first 1,000 days, from conception to around two years of age, is an important time which sets children up well for preschool, primary school and longer-term health, education, wellbeing and social outcomes.
The Best Start strategy will create a whole-of-community approach to improving the early support in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life and improve life outcomes for children and their families. The ACT government has a significant policy and reform agenda aimed at improving health, wellbeing and outcomes for children and their families in the early years. We know that support provided early in the life of a child, or in response to challenges, is the most effective way of supporting people to improve or change their long-term life trajectories and outcomes. That is why we are undertaking a significant policy and reform agenda which focuses on improving health and wellbeing outcomes for all children and their families in the early years.
We recognise that the health and wellbeing of children crosses all aspects of daily life. The supports that are required to set children and their families up for success cannot be met by a single government directorate or community service provider acting alone. It requires a coordinated effort across the range of services and directorates.
We also need to work with families and caregivers to ensure that they have the skills, knowledge, support and expertise to nurture and enjoy their child’s development in the first 1,000 days. This means identifying and enhancing the important protective factors which promote and sustain health and wellbeing. The Best Start strategy will form a key component of the government’s broader agenda to continually improve and evolve our public maternity services, family and community services, and early childhood supports and education. It will also be a key platform of the ACT government’s commitment to establish a child and family network which seeks to establish integrated services that families who need support are able to easily navigate and access, rather than having to piece together a jigsaw of services and supports.
The Best Start strategy will complement Set Up for Success: an early childhood strategy for the ACT, which has three-year-old preschool as its flagship initiative, along with a range of other measures aimed at supporting early learning and the life chances that flow from it. A successor to the ACT government’s A Step Up for Our Kids out of home care strategy will also be released soon. This new strategy will guide continued reform in the out of home care and child protection systems over the remainder of the decade. The strategy will have a broader focus than A Step Up, aiming to provide earlier support to families and prevent their engagement with the statutory child protection system wherever possible.
There is a strong alignment between the successor to A Step Up and the Best Start strategy. Development of the Best Start strategy is also a key action in the Healthy
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