‘it takes a village..’ innovative, early intervention cross sector collaboration. kerry thomas...
TRANSCRIPT
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‘it takes a village..’
Innovative, early intervention cross sector collaboration.
Kerry Thomas
Gateway Family Services
Blue Mountains, NSW1
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Background
• Local Answers funding stream- FAHCSIA
• Early Intervention focus
• Innovation & Research
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The Evidence..
1. The quality of Children’s relationships with their parents and caregivers plays a vital role in their
development and well-being. Research indicates that Early Childhood Education plays a significant role in
providing caring and stimulating environments for young children. In addition, Early Childhood Services play a
significant support and information role for parents of young children.
Nepean Families First Network Report
“Understanding Needs of Parents and Carers” 2002
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2. Early experience is all about relationships.
¨ Nurturing & responsive relationships build healthy brains.
¨ It is the relationship that the young child has with their caregiver(s) that literally sculpts the brain and determines future development
¨ When protective relationships are not provided for children, this can interfere with their social, emotional and cognitive development.
¨ When children are provided with loving & caring experiences the connections in the brain for feeling good and learning are strengthened.
Professor Frank Oberklaid, Director, Centre for Community Child Health
Early Brain Development: Implications for community development work with families
The Australian Childhood Foundation
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3. What Directors and workers in early
childhood services told us about their
interactions with parents and children.
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What we did..
‘it takes a village’ provides a workable model that:• builds the capacity of workers in early childhood
services to recognize and respond more effectively to the needs of vulnerable children & families.
• promotes an efficient & personalized interface between Families, Early Childhood Services, Health & Community Services
• facilitates a smooth entry to the range of services in the community that provide extra, specialized support for vulnerable children and families
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How did we do this• Step 1
Talk to early childhood services
• Step 2
Spend a quality amount of time with Early Childhood services
• Step 3
Partner with early childhood services
• Step 4
Plan with Early childhood services
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Recognizing the strengths of each sector
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Family Strengths
Having fun time
Healthy food
Early Childhood
Centre
Strengths
Positive relationships with children & parents
TrustSafety
Practice wisdom
Professional Development
Links with community
Time
Listening Skills Teaching
Love
Hugs
Praise
Playing games
Comfort
Boundaries
Sharing stories
Safety
Community Strengths
Responding to needs
Sharing
skills &
resources
Advocacy
Listening
Social justice
Time
Creating networks
It takes a
village
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ITAV builds
‘Villages of Care’
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And no villages And no villages looked exactly the looked exactly the same..same..
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Family Support Services
Early Intervention Family Support
Work Project
Mobile HubProject
Generalist Family Support
Work
DoCS Brighter Futures Early Intervention
Program
•Emergency Relief
•Financial Assistance
Family Links ProjectParent
Groups/Workshops
‘Jigsaw” Kids Counselling
‘it takes a village’
Early Childhood Services
Families
•On-site counselling &
support•Mentoring•Information•Professional Development
•On site staff training
•Referrals•Parent groups
•Staff & parent information
evenings•Worker “drop-in” visits
at children’s services•“Kids Skills” workshops
•Parents newsletter
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New resources
• Noticing Change in Children
• Good Starts Can Last a Lifetime
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Outcomes
• Significant in the skills and confidence of EC workers in noticing and responding to vulnerable children and their families
• in workers understanding of the local service network and how to access it
• in parents accessing parenting support and allied services
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What Changed for workers
• 80% of staff reported a significant increase in
confidence and esteem in approaching parents about
issues relating to their child
• 100% of staff reported improved access to professional
development opportunities and learning
• 70% of staff reported increased access to and
knowledge of referral pathways for vulnerable families
• 75% reported increased access to other health and
community services.14
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• this project provided affordable and accessible training to staff at convenient times and locations. Staff and families know that helpful advice and support is only a phone call away” (OOSH Director)
• ‘”TAV has given us a support service and worker to call upon; a person whom we know and trust, who can support us in our work with vulnerable families.” (Pre School Director)
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Critical factors to success
• Solid research base leading to reasonable hypothesis of what could work
• Action Research• Knowledge of the local service sector• Respect for the skills of EC sector• Understanding of & respect for the constraints facing
the EC sector• Building relationships of trust with EC workers• Continually reviewing project outcomes &
achievements• Adapting practice
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Broad application...
• for collaborative partnerships in early intervention
• to early childhood sector
• to early school years sector
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Beyond the pilot
• Testing transferability of model
• Embedding Noticing Change in Children modules in EC training
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