Salisbury Communities for Children

CHILDREN COMMUNITIES CONNECTIONS CONFERENCE

Background

The Children Communities Connections 2008 Conference brought together practitioners, researchers, policy makers and consumers to engage with issues around the establishment of place-based integrated early childhood services including ´one stop shop´ parent and child centres.

It featured a team from Pen Green Centre for Children and their Families www.pengreen.org who have become well known internationally for their pioneering work in Corby Northhamptonshire under the leadership of Dr Margy Whalley.

Researchers included Professor Margaret Sims www.une.edu.au/staff/msims7.php Head of the Centre for Social Research at Edith Cowan University and a team from the University of South Australia. www.unisa.edu.au/eds/delissa_research_centre.asp

Policy makers included senior representatives from the Departments of Family Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Education and Children´s Services, Child Youth & Women´s Health Services, the University of South Australia, Families SA, the City of Salisbury and the Salvation Army. The conference was convened by Salisbury Communities for Children and planned by key early childhood stakeholder representatives.

Comments from Participants

"The format was great. Pen Green is a fantastic benchmark. Would love to share this with my whole staff. Lots of useful information."

- SA Children´s Centre Co-ordinator

"Lots of ideas of how things could be done better in my own community. Best conference I’ve ever been to."

- Communities for Children Community Facilitator

"It was refreshing to attend a conference where speakers started from a value adding base rather than an expertise base. This actively supported the fact that participants started from their own strength base and could add newly acquired knowledge where relevant. Lots of ideas around working with parents within a child care setting. Great to hear from parents."

"Good mix of community connections, service delivery, policy and research and a focus on quality in relationships at all levels."

"Thank you for offering this conference. It was important and makes a strong statement. Highlight was the involvement of the Salvation Army, Lutheran Community Care and all the partners. Great modelling."

"As an integrated service follow through and continue developing the networks with our community including shared training."

Conference Powerpoint Presentation Downloads

Copies of presentations/papers may be made for the purposes of personal, non-commercial use or for research and study in educational institutions, provided the presentation/paper is used in full, with proper attribution to the author(s). Copyright remains with the author(s) or government agency.

Children Communities Connections 2010

This conference aims to build on developments from the 2008 conference with a strong focus on prevention, early intervention and child protection. Key sectors and agencies engaged in supporting vulnerable children and their families participating in the conference include state education, health, families and communities departments and NGO's as well as the Australian Centre for Child Protection.

One of the guiding principles of the new Family Support Program that is a focus of this conference is "place based, community development approaches:local provision, driven by local needs, with flexible and responsive services working together to provide the complete range of services needed – thereby building more connected, resilient communities." This can take the form of co-location of a number of services in a local accessible position as is being developed in a number of Communities for Children sites and Department of Education and Children's Services Children's Centres in SA or it can take the form of more integrated non co-located services in a defined area such as is happening in other Communities for Children sites.

Children Communities Connections aims to work at continuing to develop this model of working and the evidence base for it, as well as add to the knowledge and skills of practitioners involved in supporting vulnerable children and their families.

Keynote Speakers

Professor Marianne Berry www.socwel.ku.edu/FacStaff/CV/MaryBerry.pdf is an international leader in child and family welfare policy, practice and research. Her current research interests include the impact of family preservation services on child and family wellbeing and measuring service delivery in a placement prevention program.

Professor Paula Barrett www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/barrettpm.html is a leader in the prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders in children. Her FRIENDS for Life programs for the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression in children, adolescents and adults are available in 12 languages and are used in 18 countries.

We also welcome back Professor Margaret Sims www.une.edu.au/staff/msims7.php to help us move forward in the design of effective holistic family support systems that work in integrated settings.

Paul Pritchard was the National Training and Development Manager of Good Beginnings Australia who provide a variety of preventative and early intervention parenting programs. Paul’s work focused on implementing innovative programs in universal services for parents of babies and young children and with children who are victims of severe abuse and neglect. He has a special interest in promoting the role of fathers and currently works with the Centre for Community Child Health leading the learning and development strategy for the roll out of Child and Families Centres in Tasmania.

Dr Elspeth McInness www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?Name=Elspeth.McInnes is a Senior Lecturer and research degree coordinator in early childhood at the University of South Australia who is currently researching the effectiveness of integrated early childhood services.

Further Information http://www.salisburyc4c.org.au/resourcedownloads/Children_Communities_Connections_2010.pdf

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