Page 1069 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2016
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early literacy and numeracy skills. Within each program there is a strong focus on culture and identity. The Koori preschool program has strong partnerships with external organisations such as Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service and the child and family centres to ensure families and their children are provided with appropriate support.
The ACT government’s expansion of the growing healthy families program in the last budget through an investment of $1.3 million over two years enabled further provision of this program to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. This expansion included the provision of the growing healthy families program at all three child and family centres across the ACT.
Specific outcomes of this program are the development of a preschool engagement initiative through the recruitment of two early years engagement officers, one for north Canberra and one for south Canberra; enhanced access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their parents to child and family centres, and partner programs and services, including case management, group programs, community activities and events, advocacy, counselling, and group and community development activities; providing support and services to address the community-identified needs of children, families and the local community; and providing engagement with Aboriginal communities through local governance and the development of a partnership approach to service delivery.
As I have already alluded to, another significant resource for children and their families is the child and family centres located at Tuggeranong, west Belconnen and Gungahlin. The child and family centres have taken a lead role within our communities to build cross-sector relationships for local area planning and provide interventions to reduce demand for our statutory services. The centres deliver interventions that vary in intensity and focus on the early years of child development in order to ensure all children have the best start in life. They positively influence the developmental pathways and life trajectory of children through building the capacity and resilience of families to support their children.
The ACT government continues to make a significant investment in maternal and child health services for the Canberra community. This service offers much-needed support and guidance to ACT families. For instance, the maternal and child health service provides first home visits for newborns, drop-in clinics, developmental checks, immunisation clinics, early days groups, new parents groups and sleep groups. Many of these services can be accessed at the child and family centres.
The ACT government’s child development service commenced operation from January 2016 to support ACT families who have concerns about their child’s development. This service offers assessment, referral and linkages for children nought to six years, and children up to eight years with complex needs who have not had a previous assessment by an allied health professional. It will also provide autism assessment for children aged to 12 years.
The Australian early development census results, together with the annual publication of A picture of ACT’s children and young people, helps us to monitor our progress with respect to children and young people in the ACT. In addition, The ACT Children
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