‘it takes a village..’ innovative, early intervention cross sector collaboration. kerry thomas...

‘it takes a village..’

Innovative, early intervention cross sector collaboration.

Kerry Thomas

Gateway Family Services

Blue Mountains, NSW1

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.

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

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

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

• 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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