Page 568 - Week 02 - Thursday, 24 March 2022
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Canberra: ACT Preventive Health Plan 2020-2025 and strongly aligns with the objectives set out in the ACT wellbeing framework. The Best Start strategy is being developed by the Community Services, Health and Education directorates, in collaborative partnership with Canberra Health Services, the community sector and people with lived experience. In 2020, the government brought together an expert reference group to guide the development of the Best Start strategy.
This group includes around 50 representatives from the community sector, academia, advocacy groups, child development specialists, paediatricians, midwives and maternal and child health nurses and government. The contribution from these passionate advocates and experts on children in their early years and their families has guided the work to date on the Best Start strategy. I want to acknowledge and thank the reference group for their invaluable assistance and, in particular, acknowledge Professor Michael Brydon for his contribution as co-chair of this group.
In the past two years we have heard from ACT families and caregivers what they want and what they see as important for their children. Their responses are not surprising. The community told us that they want their children to “live and survive and have long healthy lives”, “feel and be safe”, “have a good education”, “play, be happy and supported”, “have jobs, training, opportunities and career pathways” and “have equality and equal opportunity”. I think this is what everyone in our community wants for Canberra’s children.
In 2022 we are continuing to work with community partners to hear directly from families about what is working well and what could be improved, to help Canberra’s kids thrive in this critical first 1,000 days and beyond. These direct discussions with the parents and families of young children are helping us to define the outcomes and actions of the Best Start strategy. We recognise that to make the Best Start strategy successful and something that matters to people and the community, we need to better understand why some individuals feel uncomfortable or reluctant to access services that are currently available; where there may be gaps in the current system; where improvements could be made; and what currently works well and can be expanded on.
To better understand these questions and people’s experiences, we are engaging with the community and listening to the voices of people with lived experience. This process will build on and test the work led by the expert reference group in 2020. The ACT government has partnered with community organisations to hear from those people for whom this reform will make a difference. We are engaging with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, culturally and linguistically diverse community members, members of the LGBTIQA+ community, young parents, parents with disabilities, and families who currently access child support services in the ACT, as well as early childhood education centres, playgroups and new parents’ groups.
From these voices we are hearing about a diverse range of experiences. We have heard the wonderful and positive stories where people have felt supported and empowered during their birth experiences, and we are working to incorporate these experiences using a strengths-based approach. This has included how experiences such as having free access to a lactation consultant through Canberra Health Services
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