The Early Years – supporting families with young children

The importance of a child’s early years to all aspects of their future positive development has been recognised globally and in Australia. High quality, timely and sustained Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) has... [ view full abstract ]

The importance of a child’s early years to all aspects of their future positive development has been recognised globally and in Australia. High quality, timely and sustained Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) has been associated repeatedly with benefits for children’s development, with the strongest effects for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In Victoria there has been significant investment in evidence based programs to target families experiencing vulnerability, alongside universal services. However there continues to be significant concerns around access and levels of participation for children and families from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds.
In 2016 the Victorian Department of Education funded Foundation House to build on its previous work in the early years sector. Subsequently the Foundation House Early Years program was initiated, with the objective of improving heath, development, wellbeing and educational outcomes for children and families from refugee backgrounds by supporting Victorian early years services to work effectively for and with families of refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.
By working in partnerships with local government, state government, communities and early childhood services, Foundation House has achieved significant outcomes. Place-based ‘whole of organisation’ collaborations that incorporate meaningful community engagement practices and monitor outcomes by cycles of continuous improvement have been demonstrated as an effective mechanism to support the access and levels of participation for children from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds. This presentation will describe the Foundation House Early Years Program, including the resources that have been developed and highlighting the ways this results in more positive settlement outcomes measured in evidence based processes.