KU Children's Services response to FSP consultation

The draft program operational framework and six key requirements address many of the concerns that have been identified by both families and professionals in relation to the current service delivery system for families with young children.

In NSW a similar co-ordinated model of service delivery for young children was developed for young children with additional needs. This was known as the Early Childhood Intervention Coordination Project (ECICP) and it could be useful for the Federal Government to look at how this project developed and the outcomes that were achieved. The NSW Department of Disability, Ageing and Home Care were responsible for its ongoing implementation.

Other Comments:

As the Co-ordintor of an Innovative Project funded by the Federal Government with 'Invest to Grow' monies I wish to express my concern that the proposed model for the Family Support Program does not appear to provide any opportunity for these 'innovative' projects to be rolled out across Australia. Many of these Projects would now fit the description of an established program. They have been independently evaluated and have developed much needed responsive models of service delivery to enhance the developmental outcomes for young children.

In relation to KU ELLI there are some key learning's that we would like to share with those responsible for the development and implementation of this new Family Support Program Model.

Firstly, the KU ELLI Project has focussed on promoting the language and early literacy development of young children from low income families. In doing this, we have used KU preschools in low income areas as our base. Secondly, we have become keenly aware of just how many of these young children (aged 2-5 years) have come into the pre-school setting with significant language delays, disorders or disabilities. Thirdly, before the advent of the KU ELLI project these children would not have had regular (any?) access to the services of a speech pathologist. Their families are not in a position to pay for private speech pathology and the speech pathology services that are available within the local health system cannot cope with the demand. For example, when KU ELLI commenced operating we had 28/32 children in one centre alone who required speech pathology intervention. At this time (June, 2009) the situation is very similar at another of the KU ELLI centres where we have 75% of the children enrolled who require the ongoing services of a speech pathologist. Fourthly, speech pathology intervention which maximises language development in the years before school is critical to these young children being able to benefit from their formal education and eventually to being employed. There is no doubt that without adequate language development there is no real literacy learning and these children are likely to be educationally disadvantaged , perhaps in the same way that some of their adult family members may have been disadvantaged in previous generations.

Finally, the success of the KU ELLI Project was dependent upon the staff developing an empathetic understanding of the needs and aspirations of the families with whom they were working and supportive relationships with the children. Support, training and guidance were provided for the KU ELLI preschool teams as they began the implementation of the KU ELLI Project. This was designed to further strengthen the development of supportive and productive relationships with both the children and their families.