“Easing the Burden”

“Easing the Burden”: Kids First Australia’s Early Help model | Kids First & Murdoch Children’s REsearch Institute

The Early Help Family Services model is funded by the Victorian Department of Families Fairness and Housing with the aim of providing evidence based, inclusive, early help to families to support their children to thrive and reduce the need for intensive family and statutory services.  The trial seeks to increase accessibility and acceptability of support to families with emerging needs.

Kids First Australia delivers Early Help in the local government areas of Mitchell Shire (Wallan) and City of Whittlesea.  Consortiums are established in both service areas in recognition of the intersectional needs of the communities within those areas. Kids First developed their own Early Help model, drawing on the lived experience of people living and working within each LGA.

As a snapshot, the following place based services were delivered at each of the sites.  Continued development and implementation of the Early Help model is occurring in response to evaluative findings:

• Individualised short-term parent coaching to build confidence and capacity to respond positively to parenting challenges.  The single session model is utilised to deliver this component of intervention.
• Support to navigate and connect to specialist and allied health services.
• Universally targeted group work providing evidence-based parent education to build parents knowledge, skills and confidence.  Groups such as Circle of Security are delivered frequently by Early Help.
• Community activation by connecting parents to informal supports such as peer support groups based on mutual interest, recreational, sporting or other social activities.  In Mitchell Shire, Early Help responded to a need identified by the East Asian community, developing a support/connection group that is now self managed within the community.  In City of Whittlesea, Early Help facilitates “Harmony Storytime”, combining bi-lingual story time for children and families, with health and wellbeing activities for parents and carers.

Kids First engaged Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) to evaluate the implementation of the Early Help model and understand the short term impact of its implementation. 

In addition, Kids First utilised feedback informed practice during service delivery, as well as engaging participants in formal interviews to understand their experiences and perspectives on the effectiveness of the service model.

Speakers: Kids First and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Laura Vecchio

Team Leader Kids First

Laura has experience working with young people and families across the mental health and child and family settings.  Laura has participated in, and led the implementation of numerous trial programs, with a focus on system collaboration for the benefit of children and families.

Eliza Stockdale

Project Officer, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Eliza has experience working across government, community, and research settings, where she has delivered and evaluated projects aimed at improving the wellbeing of individuals and families, particularly within refugee communities and early childhood education and care settings