From journal articles to Quick Guides and webinars, you will find tools and information to support.
This suite of resources is intended to assist in the development of high-quality and consistent playgroups. It outlines nine key principles underpinning high quality playgroups. They provide an evidence-informed framework with which playgroups can be developed based on the local families’ and community’s needs. Most importantly, playgroups should be child-focused, child-inclusive and developmentally appropriate.
This resource sheet provides an overview of the statistics on child deaths resulting from abuse and neglect, and information on the recording of child deaths in Australia. In 2015-16 in Victoria, the Department of Health and Human Services referred 38 cases of children (an increase of 59% from the previous year) who had died and were known to child protection up to 12 months before their death to the commission for inquiry. Common causes of death included non-accidental trauma and self-harm.
Carnegie Trust UK has published a report exploring digital exclusion among young people. It is often assumed that young people are ‘digital natives’, however, a large number of young people do not possess even basic digital skills. Findings from across the UK show that young people who are at points of transition in their life (unemployed, homeless, in care) are most at risk of being digitally excluded. Digital literacy must be actively and passively developed through ongoing access, support and training. This report provides four in depth case studies of projects engaging with groups of vulnerable young people to help develop their digital skills.
The experience of poverty in early childhood can have far-reaching impacts on children’s health and development. Children experiencing poverty are often exposed to multiple risk factors, which interact to shape their neurocognitive development. This paper explores the complex interaction of risk factors such as malnutrition and psychological stress, and the ways in which they can effect neural development and functioning.
This ACOSS briefing paper calls on the Australian government to refocus on reducing child poverty in Australia. The most recent ACOSS Poverty in Australia report (2016) found that of the three million people living in poverty in Australia, 731,000 were children, representing 17 per cent of children under the age of 15. This number has increased by 2 percent over the past decade. The paper offers recommendations to the Federal government, such as increasing the Newstart Allowance and improving supports for single parent households.
The Australian digital inclusion index (ADII) has been created to measure the level of digital inclusion across the Australian population, and monitor this level over time. Among its key findings, the report highlights that Australians with low levels of income, education, and employment are all significantly less digitally included.
This paper argues for a paradigm shift for effective suicide prevention in Australia. It takes a situational approach to mental health literacy, which represents a significant departure from the current medical framework and its emphasis on illness. The situational approach to mental health literacy is concerned with the continuum of challenging life events and human experiences across the life course, and normalising human distress. It encourages constructive and non-pathologising responses to mental health issues amongst mental health practitioners and other professionals.
A new Cochrane Review has been released, reviewing large welfare-to-work studies conducted in the US with the aim of uncovering their health effects. It examines a series of welfare-to-work studies, comparing the health outcomes for single parents who were in welfare-to-work interventions with single parents who were not. Although some policy makers have traditionally argued that welfare-to-work policies have positive health benefits, the findings of this review indicate that there is likely to be little to no effect on health.
This RMIT research project explores how religious visibility impacts social cohesion in two ethnically diverse suburbs in Melbourne’s north; Fawkner and Broadmeadows. The project focused primarily on the visibility of Muslims in these areas. It proposes that people living in more diverse suburbs are less likely to express or experience Islamophobia. The report provides considerations for future policy and programs, with a strong focus on educating the community about different faiths, and encouraging understanding and social cohesion.
