Centre for Community Child Health

RESEARCH | How can school leaders and #EarlyYears specialists ensure #SchoolImprovement efforts meet the unique needs of younger children? 🎒 https://bit.ly/4gE4oPW   A #RestackingTheOdds 📈 (#RSTO) study has evaluated the evidence underpinning educational quality domains that commonly feature in Australian school improvement frameworks.    This new research snapshot reveals which quality domains are supported by the highest levels of evidence, and which specific strategies work for children in the earliest years of school.     Explore the evidence for what works in improving early education and implications for policy, practice and research at 📝 https://bit.ly/4gE4oPW    RSTO is a collaboration between the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), Bain & Company and Social Ventures Australia.    #SchoolImprovement #SupportEveryLearner #EquityInPrimaryEducation

Reflections from Director Prof Sharon Goldfeld AM from our December newsletter ✉️ https://bit.ly/4gCwPxy This year I had the great honour of giving the #VernonCollinsOration at the Melbourne Children's Campus. Vernon Collins was the first medical director of The Royal Children's Hospital & was known for understanding the importance of families & contexts of children's lives. At the time, that was radical. It made me think it's this radically pragmatic mindset needed to address inequities in children's health, development & wellbeing in a generation. This remains a job not yet done. But there are real solutions at hand & a real opportunity to make a difference in the current policy environment. This follows our Centre reflecting on another year of progress & collaboration, but also celebrating our 30th anniversary. It was an amazing event & highlighted many key achievements of our team and partners over the decades to better the lives of children through our research, evaluation & clinical work. To that end, it's important to celebrate this year's achievements. Of course, they're the result of the ongoing collaboration with so many of you who share our commitment to addressing inequities. We've worked closely with our colleagues in the early years sector & community partners to build on the momentum of the National #EarlyYearsStrategy, welcoming the recognition at both the government & policy levels of the importance of the early years. We're also strongly encouraged by the Productivity Commission into Early Childhood Education & Care's acknowledgement that high-quality services can improve outcomes for children, particularly those experiencing disadvantage. Highlights: 💫 Celebrating 30 years of the Centre's work with an event & publication, with keynotes from special guests Naomi Eisenstadt CB & Nathaniel Kendall-Taylor 💫 The Festschrift for Professor Frank Oberklaid to celebrate over 25 years of service to the Centre & immense contribution to children's health, development and wellbeing 💫 Scaling #MentalHealthInPrimarySchools 🎒 to over 900 primary schools in VIC & funding to expand #MHiPS into QLD and SA 💫 Supporting the National Child and Family Hubs Network for greater access to community hubs in Australia & the 2024-2029 Network Strategy 💫 Hosting a successful webinar series, publishing over 100 research outputs to advance children's health, development & wellbeing. Looking towards 2025, I'm excited that we might gain real traction. Maybe we can match Australia's Olympic gold medal tally & become fourth in the world for addressing inequities? Now wouldn't that be radical? On a personal note, I am deeply grateful for your ongoing support & the tireless efforts of everyone who has contributed to our shared mission. I hope you are able to take some time to relax over the festive season & spend quality time with those you love. Warmest regards Prof Sharon Goldfeld AM Director, Centre for Community Child Health

It has been a significant year for the Network as we have worked collaboratively to advance a national agenda for #ChildAndFamilyHubs 🌈 Our December newsletter, celebrating our highlights from 2024, is out now 📄 https://bit.ly/4gnJox4 Thank you to all #NationalChildAndFamilyHubNetwork 🌈 members for the generosity shown in sharing experiences, evidence and expertise to strengthen our work. The new year is set to be a big one. Our team is excited to continue working in partnership with the sector, as well as children and families attending Hubs, to see all children and families #thrive. 

🌟As we wrap up Phase Two of the #ChangingChildrensChances ⛅ project at Centre for Community Child Health, we are reflecting on our achievements over the past nine years. 🌟 ✅ We’ve developed a new framework to understand the factors shaping children’s health, development and wellbeing. This framework helps identify inequities and opportunities to take action. ✅ We’ve used innovative ways to analyse existing data to test stacked interventions and identify which combinations of interventions work best to reduce inequities. ✅We show that stacked interventions reduce child inequities. By simultaneously addressing factors across families, communities and policies, we can improve outcomes like reading skills, mental health and physical health. ✅ We’ve empowered decision makers with evidence that can inform more precise and effective policies to address child inequities – ensuring limited public funds are directed towards opportunities that will achieve maximum impact. Learn more about the Changing Children's Chances project 🌤️ https://bit.ly/3Z549r9 This progress wouldn’t be possible without the leadership and expertise of our Investigator Group – leading national and international child equity researchers and child health clinicians. We’re also incredibly grateful to our research partners. The University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) partnered with: 🤝Beyond Blue 🤝The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care 🤝The Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS) 🤝 Brotherhood of St Laurence. A special thanks to our wonderful Knowledge Translation Reference Group, whose expertise and dedication have been instrumental in driving this project forward. ⌛ The time to close the #equity gap is now. Together, we can drive meaningful change to give every child a chance to thrive. Let’s keep the momentum going! ⌛ #ChildHealthEquity #ChildDevelopment #EarlyYears #Research #Impact #Engagement 

Another great privilege to give a keynote presentation on our work on cCMV screening and the Australasian cCMV Register at a national seminar at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Thank you Ulrika Löfkvist for inviting and hosting me! I shared the important work of Hayley Smithers-Sheedy Professor Asha Bowen OAM and Professor Cheryl Jones on gathering evidence on outcomes of cCMV across Australia. We also exchanged ideas about improving public health awareness of CMV in the community. Thank you to Anna Persson for sharing knowledge from the amazing Swedish register for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, and exchanging ideas about how we are developing the Australian National Child Hearing Health Outcomes Registry. It was especially wonderful to visit Ulrika Löfkvist at Uppsala University in the beautiful town of Uppsala. Centre for Community Child Health Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) University of Melbourne Cerebral Palsy Alliance

💡#RESEARCH💡 #PlaceBasedInitiatives can drive more #EquitableOutcomes for children and families by collecting and using consistent lead indicators for early years services – find out how 📄 https://bit.ly/41EHUdn   Most place-based initiative measurement frameworks rely heavily on outcome or ‘lag’ indicators. While necessary for evaluating population-level progress, lag indicators are insufficient for timely and effective changes on the ground. The long delay – sometimes years – between action and outcome measurement makes it nearly impossible to determine if actions are effective in real time.   In contrast, #LeadIndicators including service quality, quantity and participation are a valuable tool for… ✨ understanding the issues ✨ determining priorities ✨ setting actions ✨ supporting accountability ✨guiding timely quality improvement efforts. 💡Read about lead indicators, barriers and enablers to support their collection and use and implications for policy and practice in this new #RestackingTheOdds 📈 (#RSTO) research snapshot 📝 https://bit.ly/41EHUdn   💡In our recent #webinar, early years services around Australia discussed how they use lead indicators to drive equitable outcomes in their communities. Watch #DemocratisingData: a practical approach for frontline workers at 💻 https://lnkd.in/gCb-7tZc   #RSTO 📈 is a collaboration between the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), Bain & Company and Social Ventures Australia.   #EarlyChildhoodEducation #ChildHealthEquity #ChildDevelopment

💡 What does it take to really listen to what someone is telling us? Find out in the latest article from Dr Paul Prichard 📝 https://bit.ly/49IWQsP     The most common listening we all experience can be thought of as ‘#SocialListening’ – listening with a view to speaking. Whereas the type of listening those of us in helping professions would aspire to is known as ‘#DeepListening’ – listening to understand. For the full story on the importance of deep listening and tips on how to do this, head to 💻 https://bit.ly/49IWQsP This article is the third in the #ReflectionsOnRelationalPractice blog series. You can read the previous two articles here: 1️⃣ Engaging families in parent support services: ‘Hard to reach’ families or difficult to access services? 🤝 https://bit.ly/4dqAei8 2️⃣ What is relational practice and why is it important? 🌱 https://bit.ly/49HmXAw #EducationAndLearning #ProfessionalDevelopment #EveryChildThrives #RelationalPractice

🎬 VIDEO | A peer-led parenting program is improving family access to services, particularly for those experiencing disadvantage – learn how at: https://lnkd.in/g-2ZCW6s   In this webinar recording, parents share their journey from participating in Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC) to becoming employed co-facilitators of the same course.     You’ll also hear #EPEC implementation insights from:    • M'Lynda Stubbs (Stubbs M'Lynda), Director, Early Years Partnerships (Acting), Department for Education, Children and Young People (TAS)   • @Kitrina Edwards, Senior Project Officer (Policy and Equity), Centre for Community Child Health   • Fiona Lee, Executive Manager, CLAN Midland   • Paul Prichard (PhD) Prichard, Program Manager (Policy and Equity), Centre for Community Child Health     Whether you’re interested in establishing EPEC in your community or exploring evidence-based approaches to inform policy and practice, this webinar will bring you valuable insights to help children and families thrive 🤸♀️    To watch the webinar head to https://lnkd.in/g-2ZCW6s 💻 This discussion was delivered through our #ThrivingChildrenThrivingCommunities lunchtime webinar series. The series brings you diverse early childhood perspectives, evidence and resources on equity and innovation in community child health. Watch our previous webinars 🎬 https://lnkd.in/gsN2zqGB      #ChildHealth #FamilyEngagement #InclusiveServices #ChildDevelopment #FamilyWellbeing #ChildWellbeing 

‘It is a great service, helping vulnerable families who would otherwise not access such support.’ Royal Far West is using #telehealth to improve #RuralHealthEquity for children experiencing #MentalHealth challenges 📄https://bit.ly/3O39nNL    All children, regardless of where they live, deserve timely and available access to services. In their trial, Royal Far West have used #telehealth to offer comprehensive psychiatric assessment and management recommendations to support local paediatricians, other care providers, and the children and families seeking support. Local paediatricians are supported without requiring children and families to leave their local area.    The Centre for Community Child Health partnered with Royal Far West and UNSW to evaluate the model, showing that it was well-received by local paediatricians and families and has strong potential to address rural health equity issues for children experiencing #MentalHealth challenges.      In the evaluation, one parent said that they ‘…found this service extremely helpful and feel lucky to have our daughter included in the trial as we live rurally where it is extremely difficult to find help...’     Read the full report now https://bit.ly/3O39nNL     Royal Far West has a critical role to play in connecting country children to the standard of health and wellbeing they’re entitled to, regardless of where they live. Read about their research and advocacy work  https://bit.ly/4fjFLYJ       #childhealth Josie Anderson, Claire Taylor (Coulton), Jacqueline Emery, Sara Cibralic, Lauren Heery, Sarah McDowell

The Centre for Community Child Health welcomes the Productivity Commission's plan for universal early childhood education and care (ECEC).  A comprehensive inquiry has provided a clear path for ensuring that Australia’s #ECEC system truly meets the needs of children and families, aiming to reduce inequities and set every child on a path to lifelong good health, education and wellbeing.     We’re proud that our research including #RestackingTheOdds 📈(#RSTO) and National Child and Family Hubs Network initiatives, contributed to the Commission’s final report and recommendations.     We look forward to continuing to support access to evidence-based policy and investment to ensure that all Australian children and their families receive the lifelong benefits that high-quality, universal ECEC can provide.     💡Read the Centre’s response: https://lnkd.in/g3TftFMG   💡Read the Network’s response: https://lnkd.in/gs8Agexs   💡Read Restacking the Odds’ response: https://lnkd.in/gwQ4PcNY   💡Read the Productivity Commission report: https://lnkd.in/g592fbaf     #ChildAndFamilyHubs 🌈 #Hubs #NationalChildAndFamilyHubsNetwork #ChildHealth #ChildHealthEquity #FamilyEngagement #InclusiveServices #ChildDevelopment #FamilyWellbeing #ChildWellbeing Logan Together, Gladstone Region engaging in action Together (GRT), Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership, Bain & Company, Paul Ramsay Foundation, SNAICC - National Voice for our Children, The Ian Potter Foundation, Karitane, Our Place | Colman Education Foundation, ARACY, Social Ventures Australia, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), The Royal Children's Hospital, Olivia Hilton, Clare Shann, Gemma Davy, Caitlin Macmillan, Jacqui McCann, Sharon Goldfeld AM, Molly Peterson, Suzy Honisett