Report – back Seminar “Early Intervention” in Family and Pre-school Children Services

1. Report – back Seminar“Early Intervention” in Family and Pre-school Children Services - “Actualization of the Spirits of IFSC – Learning from the Australian Experience” By Angela Chiu Centre Supervisor Western District IFSC The Hong Kong Catholic Marriage Advisory Council 20.3.2006

5. 1. The Australian National Agenda for Early Childhood • Government commitment to developing a National Agenda for Early Childhood • Consultation showed broad support for development of a National Agenda for Early Childhood across the areas: • Early child and maternal health • Early learning and care • Child friendly communities • Supporting families and parenting • Improving outcomes for Indigenous children • Working together

6. What is the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy? Four Initiatives: • Communities for Children - $142.4m • Invest To Grow - $70.5m • Local Answers - $137m • Choice and Flexibility in Child Care - $125.3m

7. Communities for Children • 45 sites (communities) across Australia • $142.4m over four years of funding per site • Aims to help young children, their families and the broader community.

8. Five priority areas: • Healthy young families • Support for families and parents • Early learning and development • Child friendly communities • Family and children’s services work effectively as a system

9. Key features: A new way for Government to provide funding to communities: • Place based • Community driven • Building community and community capacity • Top-down, Bottom-up • Collaborative governance / tight-loose control • Early intervention, prevention and promotion

10. Role of Facilitating Partners • Bring the community together to talk about local issues that affect young children; • Establish a Communities for Children Committee; • Engage community leaders; • Engage existing service providers; • Promote, integrate & coordinate effort;

11. Role of Facilitating Partners (con’t) • Build partnerships with local business; • Work with early childhood experts; • Manage funding; and • Report to Government.

12. Examples of activities and services • Home visiting • Early learning and literacy • Playgroups • Parenting programs and family support services • Boosting social inclusion and peer support for parents of young children. • Child nutrition programs

13. Integrated Family Service Centre (IFSC) Three major components:                                              Treatment-oriented Family Counselling Unit • Supporting families at risk (practical, emotional & training support) Family Support Unit Family Resource Unit Open, development & preventive

14. 2. Overview of IFSC - HK • Objectives • To provide range of preventive, development, supportive, remedial services to enhance functions of individuals and families • To preserve and strengthen family as a unit …build up supportive/caring community • To identify problem early, provide early interventions to assist people in disadvantaged situations so as to help them to cope with crisis, regain self-resilience and restore functioning

15. Overview of IFSC – HK (con’t) • Principles • Accessibility • Early Identification • Integration • Partnership

16. Overview of IFSC – HK (con’t) • Spirit of IFSC • Child-centered • Family-focused • Community-based

17. 3. Actualization of the Spirits of IFSC • Early Intervention • Early identification of needs • Early intervention in terms of children’s early years • Fill in service group of children services • Fulfill the spirit of child-centered • Efforts paid on enhancing parental functions for the benefit of children

18. Actualization of the Spirits of IFSC (con’t) • Community Based • “It takes a community to raise a child” • Creating a caring community for children with different stakeholders in the community, e.g. Child Care Institutions, ICYC, schools and local peoples, etc. • Community Education and Community Participation