Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability
Submission by: First Steps Count Child and Community Centre (FSC), 4 Myall Ave, Taree NSW
First Steps Count (FSC) is a collaborative, place-based, child and family hub for families with children aged 0-12, providing a safe and welcoming place for families to access supports and services in Taree NSW. The hub has been thoughtfully and intentionally designed in partnership with the community, using biophilic design principles, creating a beautiful space which promotes health, wellbeing and healing. The First 2000 Days of a child’s life lay the foundation for future health and wellbeing and FSC works with community to ensure parents and children are supported to promote optimal outcomes.
How we work
Our ultimate aim is for all children to thrive, have the best start to life and reach their full potential. Along the way, our objective is to engage early with families, providing knowledge and skills to parents through their journey of raising children, empowering them to raise healthy, thriving children in safe environments.
The hub model is based on working relationships with local service providers who deliver their funded supports and services at FSC. The FSC Navigator, a critical component of a “hub” model, works alongside families - connecting them with the right supports at the right time.
FSC welcomes over 100 families per week to the hub – many of whom use the space as a place to play with their children and connect with others. Approximately 40% of families attending FSC identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Some families require additional supports which can be sought in a safe, non-judgmental way through a trauma-responsive, relational model. Building and maintaining trusting relationships with families is a critical success factor for sustained engagement in targeted services and programs.
Evidence of need
According to data from the Australian Early Developmental Census (2024), 26.2% of children in the Greater Taree area are considered to be developmentally vulnerable across one or more domains. This trend has not changed in over a decade despite significant investment in services, supports and programs for children and families. Access to relevant and timely
support is hindered by the complex, fragmented, and inefficient nature of the child and family service system. It is marred by: poor communication between services, unclear referral pathways; duplication; and service delivery gaps. This has been exacerbated by COVID-19 with missed opportunities for developmental checks and psychosocial support due to service disruption.
On top of this, services are not easy to access and the needs of some of our families are complex with multiple stressors influencing family functioning and capacity such as high levels of unemployment, domestic and family violence, substance misuse, unstable housing and intergenerational trauma.
As a child and family hub in a regional area of NSW, we are pleased to have the opportunity to provide our insights and perspective into the Terms of Reference for Thriving Kids.
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.
Child and family hubs offer a vital foundation for building long-term, trusting relationships with families. These relationships create safe, welcoming environments where parents feel comfortable discussing their child’s development and broader family needs. This trust enables ‘warm’ referrals to targeted supports, ensuring families are connected to the right services at the right time.
Hubs provide inclusive, non-stigmatising settings for programs such as supported playgroups, which are instrumental in helping parents identify developmental needs in their children. Conversely, with trained staff participating in these programs, playgroups also provide a safe space to educate families on typical early childhood development. Playgroups also foster peer connection and offer holistic support to families, including access to early childhood specialists, opportunities to embed allied health professionals and trauma-informed, relational practices. At First Steps Count, we have piloted student speech pathology placements in a playgroup setting providing natural contexts for speech and language screening combined with opportunities for parent education and/or appropriate referrals.
Through wraparound supports and accessible information about child development, hubs empower families and strengthen community wellbeing. With sustained “glue” funding and additional investment, hubs have the potential to expand their reach and impact, delivering integrated, place-based services that respond to the complex needs of children and families.
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.
The first 2000 days of a child’s life — from conception to age five — represent a critical window for physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. As the NSW Health Framework states, “What happens in the first 2000 days has been shown to have an impact throughout life”, influencing outcomes from school readiness to long-term health. [The first… NSW Health]
Traditionally, child development is monitored through child and family health nurse checks. However, demand for these services is high, and there is a significant drop-off in developmental screening after 12 months. In areas like Taree, limited availability, inconsistent access, and disjointed workforce in these services can pose barriers to access and early identification. Attracting qualified workforce to the regions is a vital component to successfully meeting the demand for services for children and families.
While children attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) are more likely to have developmental concerns identified, not all children attend ECEC. Support must begin with families — providing more ECEC places alone is only part of the solution. We would go further and advocate for universal child development education and parent support from conception to 3 years in a bid to maximise healthy child development.
A key challenge is differentiating between developmental delay and trauma-related presentations, both of which significantly affect long-term outcomes. Addressing this requires a sufficient workforce trained in trauma-responsive, relational practice. This is particularly true in rural and regional areas where recruitment and retention of skilled health workforce remains a challenge.
The ability to embed allied health professionals in playgroups is limited by workforce shortages and funding limitations. Promising initiatives, such as trials of student speech pathologists in playgroups at FSC, highlight the potential of innovative workforce solutions and enhanced access to information and support for families.
Embedding universal services within child and family hubs — such as First Steps Count — offers a collaborative, relational model for early engagement. These hubs can serve as optimal pathways for identifying developmental concerns and connecting families to support. To truly invest in prevention and early engagement, we must reimagine the system — flipping it to prioritise collaboration, relational practice, and universal access.
“All service providers must be committed to providing families with a service experience that is seamless, coordinated and continuous, not fragmented, inconsistent or confusing. To succeed, all government, non-government and community and health organisations will need
to work together from a common understanding and a common goal, to support families in the first 2000 days.”(First 2000 Days Framework, NSW Health, pp 11) The First 2000 Days Framework
3. Identify equity and intersectional issues, in particular, children who identify as First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse.
Wherever universal services are provided for children and families identified to be at risk, must be a safe and welcoming place providing services and supports without judgement. Workforce training is critical to ensure all services are provided in a trauma-responsive, culturally responsive relational way.
4. Identify gaps in workforce support and training required to deliver Thriving Kids.
Human-centred, relational practice is widely recognised as best practice in working with children and families. To be effective, the entire workforce must be supported to train in trauma-responsive relational approaches, with mechanisms in place for ongoing coaching and mentoring. This ensures consistency and depth in practice across all service touchpoints and also provides an opportunity for accountability in practice
The needs of families in metropolitan areas often differ significantly from those in regional communities. For initiatives like Thriving Kids to succeed, they should be rolled out in ways that are responsive to local contexts and community needs. Central to this success is embedding relational practice — creating opportunities to engage early with all families in universal settings, going to where the families are, where information about typical development can be shared and developmental concerns identified before children start school.
Workforce shortages, particularly in allied health, and rigid systems within the public sector limit innovation and the ability to work relationally. In contrast, private sector providers often have greater flexibility to engage in relational ways but are not necessarily funded to work in that way. Child and family health nurses must also have relational practice embedded in their funded service models. Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) exemplify this approach, building trust and promoting sustained engagement through culturally safe, relational practice.
Systemic barriers — including rigid funding rules and top-down governance — constrain frontline workers from taking the time needed to build meaningful relationships with families. Even when relational expertise exists, service managers and team leaders are often restricted by funding structures that prioritise outputs over outcomes.
Early education providers should also be trained in relational approaches to ensure consistency across the early childhood ecosystem.
Collaborative child and family hubs, such as First Steps Count, are ideally positioned to lead the implementation of Thriving Kids, upholding high-quality relational practice and providing integrated, community-based support for children and families.
5. Draw on domestic and international policy experience and best practice.
To inform Thriving Kids it is recommended that examples of human-centred relational practice are considered:
- Family Partnership Model, Crispin & Harris, 2013
https://doi.org/10.12968/johv.2013.1.1. - The Liberated Method, UK — an approach to public service that is relational and supports “human flourishing”
- The Sunshine Project, WA — a fresh approach to family support, inviting families navigating complex challenges to grow a good life
- Resources about relational practice available through the Centre for Community Child Health e.g. What is relational practice and why is it important, Paul Prichard, 2024
6. Identify mechanisms that would allow a seamless transition through mainstream systems for all children with mild to moderate support needs.
To ensure relational practice is a core component of all commissioned services, flexibility must be built into service models and funding arrangements. Funding contracts should explicitly require and support relational, trauma-informed practice as a standard that is upheld by service managers and funding bodies.
It is essential to recognise that families’ lives do not always fit within the rigid structures of existing systems. Empathy and agility are needed to ensure that children do not fall through the cracks when families are facing adversity or complex challenges.
Long-term, sustainable funding for child and family hubs is critical to enable the “glue” that supports collaborative service provision. Embedding Navigator roles or relational workers within these hubs can help families move seamlessly through the system, ensuring no one is left behind.
All workers should be open to feedback about their practice and receive ongoing training in trauma-informed and family partnership models, supported by coaching and mentoring. Collaborative commissioning approaches can further strengthen the system by fostering shared responsibility and innovation across sectors.