Page 3959 - Week 12 - Thursday, 20 October 2005
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MS GALLAGHER: Today it is my pleasure to report on progress to date in implementing the ACT young people’s plan and children’s plan. As members will be aware, these important documents were launched some 12 months ago, and since then much has been achieved. Working with the community, we have introduced new initiatives and been able to enhance service delivery to the ACT’s children, young people and their families. I cannot stress enough the importance of our engagement with the community in the implementation of the plans. It is the key to sustained and quality outcomes that meet the real needs of Canberra’s younger citizens.
The ACT children’s plan sets a vision for the children of Canberra. It provides support for children to be resilient and optimistic, healthy and active, creative and innovative, and supported and protected. One of the key commitments of the plan was achieved with the establishment of the Gungahlin child and family centre and its sister service in Tuggeranong, which are tangible examples of the practical initiatives emerging from the plan. As part of this process, the government committed funds totalling $6 million towards new buildings and $1.7 million for the provision of services. These centres are leading the way in terms of the provision of universal integrated services for children and families.
Community engagement and consultation with the local community have been underpinning features of the centres’ development. In Gungahlin, the child and family centre has forged close working relationships with other government agencies, community organisations and local businesses to deliver a suite of highly successful programs. One example of this is the partnership established to coordinate the Gungahlin Christmas party at Yerrabi Park. The Gungahlin child and family centre worked closely with the LDA, Gungahlin regional community services and other local businesses and clubs to host the party, which 3,000 local residents attended.
In terms of other services provided, the child and family workers at Gungahlin had contact with 644 families over the past year, either through home visits or contact at school or the centre itself. Additionally, since January, the centre’s maternal and child health nurses supported families through the 377 clinic visits conducted. Seventy-three local residents have also attended the drop-in speech pathology clinics. These figures demonstrate the range and volume of services being delivered to the Gungahlin community by the centre. This engagement will be mirrored in Tuggeranong as services are expanded.
The plan also commits the government to enhanced prevention, early identification and intervention services that work collaboratively with parents and children from before birth and continue through childhood. To this end, the newborn hearing screening program was extended to both John James Hospital and Calvary Hospital in September and October 2004. This service is critical in providing early intervention support to newborns with hearing difficulty. Early detection and intervention of hearing loss before six months of age has been demonstrated to be highly effective in assisting children’s health at a critical time for language development. Given this, the achievements of Canberra Hospital in screening 99.65 per cent of all babies admitted to its centre for newborn care in 2004 is extremely reassuring.
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