Page 132 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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(b) the cost of these programs is a fraction of that needed for community based supervision or detention; and
(5) further notes that much more needs to be done in the Australian Capital Territory to support children and young people in the middle years; and
(6) calls on the ACT Government:
(a) to make a formal commitment to improving services and programs for the Territory’s children and young people in the middle years; and
(b) to demonstrate that commitment by identifying and including specific provisions in the 2019–2020 ACT Budget that address important issues facing those in middle childhood, including giving due consideration to the following:
(i) Families ACT’s recommendation to “support the collection of longitudinal data on the wellbeing of middle years children in the ACT”;
(ii) the Youth Coalition’s recommendation for a homelessness service model for children aged 8 to 15 in the ACT, as supported by Families ACT, ACT Council of Social Service and ACT Shelter;
(iii) Canberra Police Community Youth Club’s proposal to have a support accommodation unit for young people under the age of 16, to address the gap in service provisions for this age group; and
(iv) requests from various community services providers for funding for youth diversion programs.
I am grateful for the opportunity to bring this very important motion to the Assembly today. As stated in the motion, both Australian and international research have increasingly called attention to the importance of what is called middle childhood or the middle years. The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth which, in partnership with the Smith Family, established the middle years network two years ago, defines this period as beginning at age eight and continuing through age 14, though other forums and researchers may use slightly different numbers.
It is widely understood that middle childhood is the developmental stage between early childhood and adolescence in which children undergo dramatic social, emotional and physical changes, including the most intense period of brain development during a human lifetime. Focus on the middle years has been driven in large part by two complementary realisations: first, as leading child development researcher Gerry Redmond has put it, this is a period of benign neglect characterised by lack of dedicated research data and critical gaps in funding for support services.
As the Australian child wellbeing project found in its 2016 study Are the kids alright? Young Australians in their middle years, most young people in their middle years are doing well. This is good news that has probably contributed to the lack of data and support services for this particular cohort. It is, after all, the period between early childhood, which receives enormous attention for obvious reasons, and the often complicated period of later adolescence, when attention again picks up. Too often, we just assume that kids are okay.
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