Submission 59 — Name Withheld — Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

For Kids

STRENGTHS-BASED TIERED ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES

AND Supports (STARS FOR KIDS)

Submission to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and

Disability inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

29 September 2025

STRENGTHS-BASED TIERED ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES AND

SUPPORTS (STARS FOR KIDS)

Who We Are …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Recommendations ……………………………………………………………………………………………..….. 4

Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

Response to the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative ……………………………………. 7

1. Examine evidence-based information and resources that could assist parents identify if their child has mild to moderate development delay and support parents to provide support to these children ……………………… 7

2. Examine the effectiveness of current (and previous) programs and initiatives that identify children with development delay, autism or both, with mild to moderate support needs and support them and their families. This should focus on community and mainstream engagement, and include child and maternal health, primary care, allied health playgroups, early childhood education and care and schools …………………. 9

3. Identify equity and intersectional issues, in particular, children who identify as First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse …………… 11

4. Identify gaps in workforce support and training required to deliver Thriving Kids ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12

5. Draw on domestic and international policy experience and best practice 14

6. Identify mechanisms that would allow a seamless transition through mainstream systems for all children with for children with mild to moderate support needs …………………………………………………………………………… 14

Contributors ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…. 18

References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18

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WHO WE ARE

We warmly welcome the opportunity to submit our expertise to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative. We are a collaborative coalition of leading Australian universities, health services, research centers, government, and non-governmental community organizations, actively engaged in translational research through the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Strengths

based  Tiered  Accessible Resources and Supports (STARS  for  Kids-CRE), Sydney

Partnerships in Health Education Research and Enterprise (SPHERE), Sydney Health

Partners (SHP), and the national child and family hubs network. Our collective program of work promotes equity through systematic engagement and support for children and families from pregnancy to start of school. Our program uses a ‘whole-of-family’ approach in three

interconnected domains  of  child developmental  vulnerability,  parental mental

wellbeing, and family psychosocial needs. Our work spans clinical, research and implementation evaluation, via early identification of child developmental needs and tailored supports of right care at the right place and time for ’all’ Australian children, regardless of their socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, or geographic backgrounds. This includes but is not limited to:

•   innovative  digital screening and navigation platform providing universal reach

including for priority population communities by leveraging opportunistic contacts with children and families by embedding in routine service systems;

• co-located place-based model of care focusing on those experiencing complex needs including parental mental health and family psychosocial challenges and supported by e-Hubs for continuum of care from ‘light touch’ digital supports to wrap around health care with social care.

• an end-to end solution involving hybrid (digital and in-person) care pathways offering early identification via a universal ‘digital front door’ to ascertain child and family needs and tiered levels of intervention and supports, as per need, using a ‘proportionate universalism’ framework comprising universal services plus targeted supports commensurate with needs.

In alignment with the inquiry’s objectives, we aim to underscore the potential to enhance equity and overcome barriers to early childhood health and developmental checks. We do so by outlining how the approaches developed through our program of work can foster a Responsive, Integrated, Sustainable, and Equitable (RISE) service framework, ultimately

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improving child health and developmental outcomes. Our model integrates a seamless stepped care approach under different tiers from a universal tier 0 of ‘resources and anticipatory guidance’ to additional tier 1 of light touch and digital and group supports to targeted tier 2 of intensive interventions and supports and navigation support tier 3 with warm handovers to appropriate services including place-based Child and Family Hubs that serve as ‘one-stop shops’ for priority groups and families with complex needs requiring wraparound care and supports.

Drawing from the evidence detailed in this submission, our submission includes key recommendations, which are followed by a comprehensive discussion.

RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATION 1: Enhance universal developmental surveillance and access to universal supports: Supporting technological innovations, such as the digital Watch Me Grow-Electronic program, with demonstrated evidence in engaging and empowering families, including families from priority populations at ages when developmental checks are recommended (1, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months), and leveraging opportunistic contacts alongside the immunisation schedule with equitable reach of 90% of Australian children (particularly at 18-24 months when developmental differences start to emerge) and once engaged, offering the opportunity for ongoing monitoring via automated reminders interfacing with the Thriving Kids 3-year checks and the 4-year start of school health and developmental checks.

RECOMMENDATION 2: Early identification of developmental needs and proportionate response as a continuum and seamless transition. Embedding integrated hybrid tiered care pathways as a continuum from community/primary to specialist and place-based settings using tiered care pathways and navigation support as a joined-up system including e-navigation and e-hub to place based hubs in health, early childhood education and social care settings based on child and family needs and preferences.

RECOMMENDATION 3: Consumer voices and strengths-based approaches Engaging families to identify barriers and recommendations for improvement and when needs are identified empowering families using a non-stigmatising, culturally safe and strengths-based (e.g. Family Partnership, NEST, Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences – HOPE) framework including peer-parent and family and community support networks.

RECOMMENDATION 4: Enhancing workforce capability and capacity Leveraging universal touchpoints alongside other opportunistic contacts via trusted providers including, but not limited to, General Practice, Child and Family Health Services, multicultural playgroups, preschools, hubs, and Aboriginal services, or wherever children and families go and build capacity via community of practice of all relevant service providers in the eco-system.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Despite substantial investment in state and national early childhood education and care programs, uptake remains low, with only 20-30% of families accessing routine health and developmental services in some regions. Our work has demonstrated an ‘inverse care law’ in that children from most disadvantaged backgrounds with highest developmental risk are least likely to engage with routine services early, thereby missing recommended developmental checks and opportunities for early intervention, highlighting significant inequity. Our research underscores the necessity of transitioning to an integrated and joined up service model using a strengths-based tiered care (STARS) framework incorporating innovative ‘digital front door’ approaches to systematically reach families, particularly the ‘hard to reach’ priority population groups. This has been shown to double the early and accurate identification of developmental needs and referrals, particularly for multicultural and Aboriginal communities, children facing socioeconomic challenges, and families residing in regional/rural areas. As identified through our STARS program, the fundamental aspects that need to be addressed in order to improve life trajectories and intergenerational disadvantages include:

1. SYSTEMATIC REACH AND IDENTIFICATION via digital technology and leveraging opportunistic contacts, such as immunisation and other service contacts with providers (e.g., general practitioners, child and family health nurses, community playgroups and early childhood education facilities, non-government organisations, and other social services) that families already engage with and trust; for those families facing technological, language, cultural, financial, or structural barriers, engaging via these services that families are already engaging with offers the opportunity to provide the necessary access support, thereby breaking the cycle of inequity and intergenerational disadvantage.

2. INTEGRATION OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICE MODELS through the implementation of integrated tiered care pathways from universal to wrap around support as a continuum from community/primary to specialist/ place-based settings.

   3. INCREASING RESPONSIVENESS by engaging and empowering families using a non-

stigmatising, culturally safe and strengths-based (e.g. Family Partnership, NEST, Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences – HOPE) framework.

4. ENHANCED SUSTAINABILITY through informed collaborative leadership and interagency work to embed programs within universal services (e.g., health, early childhood education), shared investment across agencies, co-design with target communities, information sharing, and ongoing evaluation.

5. PROVIDING INTEGRATED JOINED-UP SERVICES based on needs and choices through the STARS tiered care program comprising:

a) Universal service access to early detection using the innovative technology of WMG-E platform.

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b) Additional resources and support with awareness, health literacy resources, sign posting ‘light touch’ parenting programs, and digital services (Tier 1)

c) Targeted services when specific issues are identified, especially for children with early mild to moderate needs (e.g., within 1 to 2 standard deviation for what is expected for age and circumstances regardless of the domain or issue at hand) (Tier 2)

d) Specialised interventions and disability supports including service navigation and place- based hubs and supports (Tier 3) for those with significant and complex needs (e.g., outside 2 standard deviation of what is expected for age and circumstances with multiple domain involvement and experiencing psychosocial challenges).

Figure 1: STARS For Kids design

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RESPONSE TO THE INQUIRY INTO THE THRIVING KIDS

INITIATIVE

Our response is centered around the core themes of fostering responsive, integrated, sustainable, and equitable (RISE) services and supports.

1. Examine evidence-based information and resources that could assist parents identify if their child has mild to moderate development delay and support parents to provide support to these children.

An estimated 63,448 Australian preschool children (1 in 5) do not have the skills they need to flourish at school and in life with consequent lifelong disability, chronic disease, reduced economic opportunity, and intergenerational adversity. Specifically, the 2024 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data indicate that 23.5% of children are developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains, and 12.5% are vulnerable on two or more domains at the start of school. These figures represent an increase from 22% and 11.4% respectively in the previous census. Further, children from priority populations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, socioeconomically disadvantaged and culturally and linguistically diverse communities), have 1.5-2.0 times an increased risk of not being school ready, further compounded by service access and help-seeking preferences and barriers. Early identification through universal services using opportunistic service contacts and providing supports embedded within health and early childhood education services and placed based hubs 1,2 offer the most promising avenue to address the current inequity in service access. While the Federal and State Governments have increased spending to services supporting children ‘early in their illness’, it is critical that support is offered ‘early in life’ from primary to secondary and specialist services as a continuum)3. This has the potential for the greatest return on investment as delayed identification and late intervention is estimated to cost Australian economy around $15.2 billion annually in education, health, and welfare costs 4.

SOLUTION: STRENGTHS-BASED TIERED ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES AND SUPPORTS

(STARS FOR KIDS)

There is a need for an end-to-end solution that offers continuum of care across the child’s/family’s journey starting from the early detection of developmental differences and developmental risk, including among children experiencing psychosocial and contextual disadvantage. In this regard, identifying children with developmental delays and differences is the first step to offering early intervention.

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Fundamental elements of the STARS for Kids approach include the WMG-E platform, providing an integrated continuum of care from primary care to specialist services, including navigation support and place-based child and family hubs.

1. WMG-E Platform: Aligned to RECOMMENDATION 1, WMG-E is an integrated digital child and family service where child developmental checks completed by parents and assessments are conducted as part of opportunistic contacts, such as mandatory vaccination or other health visits at GP clinic waiting rooms, Child and Family Health Nurse clinics, early childhood education, such as preschools/supported playgroups, and Aboriginal health services, as well as during contact with social service providers. Since ≈90% of Australian children receive vaccination (with limited to no inequity), dovetailing with the vaccination schedule at 18 -24 months is expected to significantly improve uptake early with further opportunities via other universal services and service contacts, including WMG-E available on platforms such as Raising Children Network, early childhood education, and social care/community services. The aim is to engage and empower families in child developmental checks and ongoing monitoring (including mental health and wellbeing check as recommended by the recent mental health commission guideline and the Productivity Commission report). Once engaged by completing the WMG-E (translations available), a digital weblink https://is.gd/wmgdevcheck to ascertain the developmental progress, the system automatically sends reminders with the link to complete the assessment again at the next recommended ages and stages, as per national and state recommendations (e.g.,1, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48 months, start of school). This has been successfully pilot-tested in primary care, early childhood education, home and community settings including in priority (e.g., multicultural, regional/rural and Aboriginal and low socioeconomic) communities nationally 1 (see Figure 2 for an example in primary care setting in NSW).

Figure 2: WMG-E flowchart in primary care setting

2. Integrated tiered care bundles, navigation support and kids connect hubs: When concerns are identified via WMG-E, the program navigates families via a strengths-based tiered hybrid model (virtual and in-person based on needs and preferences) to the right care at the right place and time. For families with complex psychosocial needs that find service navigation challenging, the

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integrated ‘Kids Connect Hubs’ provide place-based supports working in partnership in contexts that are universally accessed by children and families (co-located community centres, not for profit organisations, health services, early childhood education services, disability services, and social services, such as child health nurses, playgroups, preschools/schools, financial counselling, legal support, and NDIS ‘dropping in’) with shared referral pathways and a ‘no wrong door’ approach (as recommended by the national child mental health and wellbeing strategy) 3 (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: Theory of change: Integrated Child and Family Hub

2. Examine the effectiveness of current (and previous) programs and initiatives that identify children with development delay, autism or both, with mild to moderate support needs and support them and their families. This should focus on community and mainstream engagement, and include child and maternal health, primary care, allied health playgroups, early childhood education and care and schools.

Aligned to RECOMMENDATION 2, our program for early identification of developmental needs using digital weblink in GP services in NSW and Victoria has demonstrated feasibility5, acceptability6, and effectiveness7 in correctly identifying children with developmental needs including autism as confirmed by gold standard assessment.

Currently access to timely identification and support for developmental needs is hindered by the inequity in service access further complex, poorly coordinated, and inefficient nature of the Australian child and family service system with fragmentation, duplication, and service delivery gaps. Particularly in priority populations, access to developmental checks is extremely poor (see Figure 4 for uptake of developmental checks in a multicultural area of Sydney).

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Figure 4: Personal Health Record (PHR) completion rate by check age, Nov 2023 to May 2024

Such inequity in service access further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the current cost of living crisis has meant that families from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are missing opportunities for early identification and supports for child developmental, parental mental health and family psychosocial needs, necessitating novel models of care 8.

Our work with consumers including priority families9 have identified barriers and recommendations (see Figure 5):

1. Soft entry to services and the use of opportunistic contacts (e.g. immunization and other service contacts and going to where the children and families go) to reduce the need for families to have additional appointments.

2. Navigation help with ‘warm handover’, as families typically struggle to find their way around the service system.

3. Service integration and continuity across places, systems, and organisations so that they are coordinated.

4. The need to recognise and support individual and family strengths including cultural safety to redress the imbalanced focus on deficits and untailored referral and care pathways.

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Figure 5. Voices of consumers (parents and carers)

We need an urgent refresh of the existing system, so that difficulties are detected early and equitably, to coordinate health and social care for children and their families8. Our work via a NHMRC partnership grant involving NSW Health, Queensland Health, and Primary Health Networks, the opportunistic contacts with GP services have been leveraged to engage families in developmental checks and if parent concerns are raised the results and recommendations are securely delivered to the GP patient records, facilitating further assessment and care pathways provided to families. At 24 months, early accurate identification of developmental needs in the intervention group was found to be 91% compared to 64% in the control group.

3. Identify equity and intersectional issues, in particular, children who identify as First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse.

Aligned to RECOMMENDATION 3, child and family initiatives should be co-designed with the priority communities – from conceptualisation and governance, through to data collection, analysis, and dissemination of findings. While one in five children starting school nationally are developmentally vulnerable, the rates are one in three in some multicultural suburbs and one in two in Aboriginal communities10. These children are twice as likely to struggle at school, experience adverse childhood events, have high healthcare costs, and poor long-term health outcomes, compared to other children. This is compounded by the ‘inverse care law’ in that those with the greatest health and social needs are least likely to have them identified and addressed early11. This means more than mere consultation. Community voices and lived experiences need to be given equal weight alongside professional expertise, ensuring that approaches are strengths-based, and grounded in culturally safe ways of knowing, being, and doing. For example, our STARS for Kids program has established an Aboriginal advisory group ‘Ngarra Wakulda’ at Taree via a partnership with Biripi

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ACMC and an Advisory group of culturally and linguistically diverse background families at Carramar in partnership with Karitane to guide the strategies. These include:

• Leveraging trusted, community-led programs such as multicultural playgroups, hubs, or Aboriginal-controlled health organisations as entry points for engagement

  • Training clinicians and service providers in culturally responsive, strengths-based

approaches that foster trust and sustained engagement with families

• Embedding Indigenous data sovereignty principles, ensuring communities guide data governance

  • Establishing knowledge translation pathways that prioritise community-led

dissemination of findings

Embedding these practices into national service models will ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families are not only included but are leaders and partners in shaping solutions, ultimately contributing to more equitable and sustainable outcomes across intersecting priority populations.

4. Identify gaps in workforce support and training required to deliver Thriving Kids. Aligned to RECOMMENDATION 4, while the implementation of developmental checks by

systematically reaching children via services that families usually engage with can address the current inequity in service access, there is a need to support these universal services and the staff via community of practice as relevant to the setting. An example of our program that has successfully implemented the community practice is that involving service navigators across Australia involved in the National ForWhen program for perinatal mental health support12. We found the program to yield a social return on investment of $7 to $1 for health social care, increasing to 17 per dollar when economic productivity is included and to 75 when life expectancy and quality of life are also included. This model facilitates coordination and integration with social care services to wrap support around families with complex psychosocial needs as currently implemented in our STRAS for Kids program across three national sites. This holistic approach improves collaboration, collegiality, workload sharing, and job satisfaction among healthcare professionals, ultimately leading to enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, and outcomes. This is particularly important given the high rates of burnout and an intention to leave the profession among healthcare professionals, both of which reduce the capacity of the health system.

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A transition in the service model for child and family nurses, coupled with the virtual models, such as WMG-E, offers a promising solution to mitigate workforce shortages. For instance, leveraging

WMG-E   in   collaboration   with

preschools,   childcare   centers,

allied  health  professionals, and

nurses (including child and family health nurses and practice nurses at GP clinics) would enhance the efficiency of primary healthcare

professionals    (PHCPs).    By

facilitating       uptake        of

developmental  checks   in  the

community and via health and early

childhood   education   services,

WMG-E will enable identification of

children  whose  parents  have

concerns  so  that PHCPs  can

Figure 6: WMG-E impact on primary health care practices (PHCPs) prioritise their further assessment

and  follow-up.  This  approach

enables the PHCPs to function as consultants where their service is most needed by attending to children identified as at risk via WMG-E (see Figure 6).

While the integration of technology is expected to enhance service efficiency, this might also lead to increased demand for services, as more children with developmental needs are identified. Given the shortages of allied health professionals in regional, rural, and remote communities, solutions include: new models of care, such as parent groups for children with speech and language delays

(e.g. Dynamic  Early Communication  Intervention  (DECI);  online  parenting programs  (e.g.,

Commonwealth Government’s investment in free parenting programs such as Triple P); and increasing workforce capacity and skills via communities of practice. Investments are also needed to improve access to allied health professionals in underserved communities, alongside leveraging telehealth solutions. Thus, across the service eco-system including both physical and virtual hubs, efforts should focus on training and up-skilling professionals to novel models of care such as parent groups and peer support. Furthermore, workforce development should emphasize strengths-based approaches whereby assessments are not just focused on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) but also build on positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and family resilience, equipping staff with the skills to better support families. This should also include embedding health with social care and supports using strengths-based approaches (e.g., Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences HOPE framework 13) instead of focusing only on risks and deficits, incorporating professional and family capacity building, thereby enhancing, family and community connections, belonging and participation. Embedding these approaches across disciplines fosters staff retention, collaboration, and professional satisfaction, ultimately enhancing health and wellbeing among parents and children, while improving workforce efficiency.

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5. Draw on domestic and international policy experience and best practice. It is imperative to draw on domestic and international policy evidence and best practice to shape early childhood support initiatives. Domestically, a Productivity Commission report’ underscored the importance of regular developmental checks including social and emotional development during early childhood to identify needs early and intervene promptly. Complementing this, the National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy’® highlights the critical need for integrated, coordinated service delivery across health, education, and social care sectors to promote an optimal start to life for all children. Similarly, the Department of Social Services Early Years Strategy’’® emphasises the provision of continuity of care, particularly for marginalised children, by facilitating early identification and support for developmental, mental health, and wellbeing needs, thereby reducing disparities and fostering long-term positive outcomes. Further, the recent Mental Health Commission’s guidelines on including mental health and wellbeing in early childhood health checks represents a critical step toward ensuring that mental health and wellbeing are consistently considered during early childhood health checks, helping families access timely support and advice during the critical early years of life’’.

Internationally, lessons from programs such as the Head Start in the USA“ and Sure Start in the UK’, demonstrate that structured, universal early childhood supports including targeted, place-based interventions can improve developmental trajectories, reduce inequities, and promote family engagement in children’s learning and wellbeing.

These approaches underscore the importance of embedding evidence-based frameworks within local service systems, ensuring that interventions are culturally safe, accessible, and responsive to family and community contexts. By synthesising these domestic and international insights, policymakers can develop comprehensive, integrated strategies that strengthen early detection, support holistic development, and enhance the mental health and wellbeing of all children.

6. Identify mechanisms that would allow a seamless transition through mainstream systems for all children with for children with mild to moderate support needs.

7. Investment in innovative models for screening and early intervention programs? using a ‘seek and respond’ service framework (Figure 7). The main challenge for implementing a ‘three-year check’ will be about addressing the current lack of uptake of the developmental checks and how to systematically reach ‘all’ children at 3 years. Our work suggests dove-tailing developmental checks (and funding) with immunisation schedule can be a game changer for equitable access to developmental checks for >90% of children who get immunised and can be effective in correctly identifying 91% of children with developmental delays including autism’. Further, using electronic developmental screening and automated reminders through programs such as WMG-E offers the

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For Kids

opportunity for ongoing monitoring at the recommended ages starting from 18-24 months alongside opportunistic service contacts and then at 36, 48, and 60 months as recommended in the Personal Health Record. This has the potential to increase equitable access, engagement/uptake and efficiency with developmental checks and provide cost-benefits. However, currently there is concern that the childhood immunisation rate is falling and hence it is critical that the program is complemented by parental engagement through other opportunistic universal service contacts (e.g. playgroups, preschools, Aboriginal services) and trusted digital platforms (e.g. Raising Children’s Network) during preschool years. In this regard our work via the Ashcroft preschool hub – Mirrung – has shown that the use of WMG-E to identify needs followed by tiered care and wrap around social supports enhanced the cohort’s developmental and wellbeing outcomes including literacy standards (e.g. from 12% in 2023 to 44% in 2024 for phonetics after the program establishment).

Figure 7: Early identification via seek and respond services

2. Implementation of child and family hubs to deliver a high quality, effective integrated hubs contextualised to the local needs in order to support the holistic needs of children and their families as demonstrated by our research2,20. Delivering the core components of ANY hub require funding for co-ordination or ‘glue’ and this is particularly relevant to the child and family hubs. Stakeholder consultation, research, and network members all converge around the need for ‘glue’ funding for success – this vital ingredient is critical for the success of these hubs. Such funding can be broadly grouped into business oversight, staff supports, community engagement, and shared information and technology systems.

3. Incorporating mental health and wellbeing to health and developmental checks and supporting families to receive the best practice early intervention and supports (see Figure 8).

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Figure 8: Helping parents with best practice early support

There has been a recent significant increase in the developmental and mental health burden among children coupled with increased inequity in service access and parental stress, further worsened by the pandemic 21 and the current cost of living crisis. Our national work via the National Child and Family Hubs Network, the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in child and family health for priority populations, a MRFF program on tiered care nationally, a NHMRC partnership grant on a digital developmental screening and ongoing monitoring in the primary care setting, a NSW Health Translational Research Grant and a NHMRC partnership grant embedded in the Child and Family Health Nurse service system and in the community service sector Ramsay Foundation have all focused on developing and implementing, at scale, an end-to-end service eco-system - from a ‘digital front door’ for developmental surveillance to blended service models including e-hubs and place-based hubs integrating supports for child development and mental health and wellbeing as well as parental and family social care supports 22. This continuum of care engaging parents from the antenatal period to the start of school is expected to ensure evidence-based early supports to mitigate the current low engagement 23.

Our research on identifying subgroups with differential response to different tiers within a tiered care model found that digital navigation tools support families that experience lower psychosocial adversity but are insufficient for families that experience higher levels of adversity where in-person and place-based supports may be indicated24. This evidence highlights the need for tiered care approaches to ensure equity. Our STARS for Kids tiered care program (Figure 1) provides a

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systematic approach to reach all children, including children who are hard to reach and experience higher rates of developmental, behavioural and socio-emotional disability, as well as their parents who often report higher stress. Aligning the various federal and state programs and incorporating the recent Mental Health Commission’s guidelines on including mental health and wellbeing in early childhood health checks is a case in point. Further, it is clear that delivering these services effectively to people who are most in need has to be a priority (if we design it for the priority populations, it will work for all). Once needs are identified, we also need a ‘common language’ to determine the level of needs and functioning such as the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY21). This will enable effective linkages with the NDIS (for those outside two standard deviation to what is expected) to make the transition seamless. This should include

vertical (primary to specialised), horizontal  (health, education, social care,  disability) and

longitudinal (across ages and stages) integration that is holistic 1. In this regard, the WMG-E allows for the early identification followed by the STARS tiered care pathway for child and family needs using the 4W principles:

• No Wrong door entry – reaching all children so that no child is left behind

• Whole of child & family needs assessment – child development, parental mental health, family social needs

• Warm handover and integrated joined-up service system

• Wraparound health with social care support including service navigation proportionate to needs Our group’s work from a multicultural community in Fairfield25 and regional/rural/Aboriginal26 community in Murrumbidgee and a lower socioeconomic area in Wanneroo as well as place-based hubs in health2 (e.g., Rockdale), non-government organisations (e.g., Miller), preschool (e.g. Ashcroft), community partner (e.g., Taree), affiliated healthcare (e.g., Karitane) and primary care (e.g. Wyndham Vale) 20 settings have showed increases in parental engagement including those who would otherwise not have engaged. The digital developmental screening via WMG-E comprising an embedded AI-based algorithm that triages families into tiers to generate personalised recommendations enhance precision and efficiency in matching needs with the most appropriate level of care via a menu of evidence-based interventions within each tier to maintain cultural relevance, acceptability, and equity including strengths-based, trauma-informed and culturally safe practices. The Early Years Strategy and NDIS review represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for effective action to reach “all’ Australian children with the potential to alleviate the current distress experienced by families in accessing support, thereby providing the best start in life for Australia’s children as envisioned in the ‘Thriving Kids’ initiative.

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9.      Barr KR, Hawker P, Winata T, et al. Family member and service
   

provider experiences and perspectives of a digital surveillance and serviceCONTRIBUTORS navigation approach in multicultural context: a qualitative study in STARS for Kids group and National Child and Family Hub identifying the barriers and enablers to Watch Me Grow-Electronic (WMG

E) program with a culturally diverse community. BMC Health Services network: , Sue Woolfenden, Katherine Research. 2024;24(1):978. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11397-y

Boydell, Clare Brennan, Sara Cibralic, Christa Lam-Cassettari,            10.          Australian Early Development Census. 2024 AEDC national

Jo Cole, Ann Dadich, Jackie Davis, Jenny Downs, Aunty Kerrie report. Commonwealth of Australia.

Doyle, Suzie Forell, Sharon Goldfeld, Rebecca Grace, Suzy            https://www.aedc.gov.au/resources/detail/2024-aedc-national-report11.        Eapen V, Walter A, Guan J, et al. Maternal help-seeking for

Honisett, James John, Bree Katsamangos, Ilan Katz, Jane child developmental concerns: Associations with socio-demographic Kohlhoff, Susan Morton, Grainne O’Loughlin, Shanti Raman, factors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 2017/10/01

Kate Short, Raghu Lingam, Desiree Silva, Olivia Wright.                     2017;53(10):963-969. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.13607                                                                                       12.          Harris SA, Eapen V, Kohlhoff J. Implementing a National

Navigation Service for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health: Early Learnings

Partners and projects supporting this submission: Black Dog from the ForWhen Model. Community Mental Health Journal. 2024/04/01 2024;60(3):581-588. doi:10.1007/s10597-023-01211-0

Institute, Centre of Research Excellence in Strengths-based            13.         Burstein D, Yang C, Johnson K, Linkenbach J, Sege R.

Tiered Accessible Resources and Supports (STAR-CRE), First Transforming Practice with HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Steps Count Child and Community Centre, Health Justice Experiences). Maternal and Child Health Journal. 2021/07/01 2021;25(7):1019-1024. doi:10.1007/s10995-021-03173-9

Australia (HJA), Joondalup Health Campus, Karitane, Mission            14.          Productivity Commission. Productivity insights: Australia’s

Australia, Murdoch  Children’s Research  Institute  (MCRI),            long-term productivity experience. Commonwealth of Australia. 2020.

National Child and Family Hubs Network (NCFHN), Origins WA, https://www.thekids.org.au/projects/HPER/how-aus-can-invest-in children-and-return-more/

Raising Children’s Network (RCN), South Western Sydney Local            15.         National Mental Health Commission. National Children’s

Health  District (SWSLHD), Sydney Health Partners (SHP),           Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Sydney  Partnerships  in  Health  Education Research and           https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/mental-health-

reform/childrens-mental-health-and-wellbeing-strategy

Enterprise (SPHERE), Sydney Local Health District (SLHD),            16.          Australian Government. Early Years Strategy 2024-2034.

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(UNSW), University of Sydney (USyd), University of Technology            17.          Australian Government. National Guidelines forincluding                                                                            mental healthand wellbeing in earlychildhood healthchecks. Available at:

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