Page 1109 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 8 April 2008
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Department of Education and Training, Chief Minister’s, ACT Health, the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, the University of Canberra, the ACT Parents and Citizens Association and the Canberra Preschool Society. Throughout the development of the framework, the communities of each of the early childhood schools were consulted. This engagement of the community will be evident in all aspects of the development and operation of the early childhood schools.
This framework provides an exciting opportunity for the future of public education in the ACT. It supports the integration of services providing regional hubs. The framework shows the commitment and the strength of the work that has gone into preparing these early childhood schools for their opening next year, and also the commitment of the community in supporting them. I was advised at the launch today that enrolments for all of the early childhood schools are going very well. I imagine they will be well supported in the community. I look forward to their ongoing success.
MR SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Ms Porter?
MS PORTER: Thank you, Mr Speaker, and thank you, minister. How does this framework provide for services to better support children and families in areas such as health, therapy and parenting?
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Ms Porter. As the framework says, an integrated service model puts the rights and needs of families and their children right at the centre. The framework recognises that services from different government and community agencies are linked so that each child and each family has easy access to the programs they need when they need them. As Dr Morag McArthur, Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University, says in the framework:
In an integrated service model, there are no wrong doors. Knocking on any door will lead families and children to the services they need.
As health minister, I am particularly interested in the way ACT Health will integrate its services into this new model. Services will be delivered by the community health child, youth and women’s health program, focusing on early intervention and prevention. ACT Health is in the planning stages with the department of education to scope the services that will be provided, but at this stage at Narrabundah and Southern Cross schools ACT Health will be available to work collaboratively on site to provide maternal and child health services and at Isabella Plains and Lyons schools ACT Health will be supporting outreach services in collaboration with the child and family centre at Tuggeranong to provide maternal and child health services.
We will be using the expertise and the learning that we have managed to get through the ongoing work of the child and family centres, which have been in operation in Gungahlin and Tuggeranong for some time. These centres offer the one-stop shop to families so we can learn from them and look at how we provide services into the early childhood schools. For example, the Gungahlin centre offers ACT Health maternal child health services, allied health services such as orthoptics, nutrition, women’s
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