Page 1557 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
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children off at child care and who earns less than $45,000 a year—if she thought she was in a position of luxury and that she moved in and out of the workforce as it suited her, I would expect the answer may be no. If I were then to ask her would she want to access her due and fairly acquired long service leave entitlements, I would imagine that her answer would be yes. That is why this Labor government continues to support the workers. (Time expired.)
Child Development Service
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Disability, Minister for Small Business and the Arts and Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (6.22): On Tuesday, 12 April I launched the new ACT Child Development Service at the Holder centre. The launch was attended by the Minister for Education, Mr Shane Rattenbury MLA, and was well attended by a range of cross-directorate representatives from education, health and community services. Also in attendance were other service providers in the sector, child development service staff and members of the reconciliation action plan committee who gifted an original artwork to the service, with the artist Tiffany Lawrence also attending.
The launch was an opportunity for all attendees to learn more about this new service and personally meet the staff involved. At the launch I was able to meet one of the parents using this service who reported that she felt the service gave her peace of mind about her son’s development and she praised the staff for their assistance.
This new Child Development Service is a redesign of previous services provided by the ACT government and now provides a more integrated service for Canberrans. The community services, health and education directorates have collaborated to streamline assessment services for ACT families in the development of this new service. It supports ACT families who have concerns about their child’s health and development. This might include identifying delays in speech and language, movement, hand skills, self-care and social development.
The Child Development Service will also assist children who may be eligible for the national disability insurance scheme and who require assistance to access the scheme. The Child Development Service provides assessment, referral, information and linkages for children from nought to six years and for children between seven and eight years with complex needs who have not had a previous assessment by allied health professionals. It also provides autism assessment for children up to 12 years.
The Child Development Service has an intake service and provides speech pathology and physiotherapy drop-in clinics at Holder and at the child and family centres in Gungahlin, Tuggeranong and west Belconnen. Through this early assessment and referral, children in the ACT will be getting the support they need to reach their full potential.
As well as referring to the NDIS, the Child Development Service assists families by referring and linking them into other services and programs that can support their
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