Page 3326 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 1994
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The Government is proud of its achievements to date in relation to early intervention services for children with developmental delays and has taken the opportunity of responding to the committee's report to outline a number of its initiatives in this area. These include a new client intake system for the Department of Health's Child Health and Development Service, which will improve the provision of information, access to service and referral functions; an extended multidisciplinary outreach support service at Melba Preschool for babies and young children with moderate to severe disabilities; and the establishment of three new early intervention units in Scullin, Village Creek and Fadden to prepare children with developmental delays for mainstream preschools and schools. These and other important developments in this field reflect the Government's continued commitment to ensuring that there is a range of effective and accessible services and support mechanisms for children and their families.
In addition, the Government has a strong commitment to providing a coordinated and seamless approach to early intervention services, which is characterised by ease of access for parents and children to the full range of services necessary to meet individual needs. This commitment will be further reflected in the development of an early intervention services policy, to be drafted over the coming months. The policy will have, as a major objective, improved coordination and interagency cooperation and will include a service delivery and coordinated case management model. It is envisaged that a draft policy will be released for public consultation before the end of 1994.
To return to the committee's report, the Government notes the wide-ranging nature of a number of the recommendations relating to early intervention services. Recognising this breadth of issues, the Government has adopted a coordinated and cross-agency approach, both in terms of drafting its response to the report and in terms of the proposed process for implementing its conclusions. The Government agrees in principle with the report's recommendation that early intervention services be amalgamated into one administrative unit, noting, however, that the Government wishes to consider the amalgamation of early intervention services in the context of the overall framework within which the services are delivered and the relationships that exist between early intervention services and the full range of children's services generally. This recommendation will involve major issues of Government policy and decisions which will impact on other children's services and the structure and operation of agencies.
In relation to the committee's recommendation that case management services be provided to families with developmentally delayed or disabled children, I have already mentioned the Government's intention to pick up this issue in a draft discussion paper due for release later this year. The Government is also in agreement with the committee's recommendation that funding for therapy and respite care be increased to a level where they can at least meet the basic needs of their clients. With this in mind, the Government is committed to ensuring that, where therapy services may be reduced due to long-term staff absences, therapists will be replaced, wherever possible.
In addition, the response notes that the Government is presently reviewing the nature and level of respite care services available for young children with a disability as part of its current review of intellectual disability services and that the recommendations of the review will be considered in the 1994-95 budget context. The Government also notes the number of other important issues covered by the committee's report, including the
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