Impact

We are proud of the impact we have achieved over the past 30 years. The Centre has been instrumental in raising national and international awareness of the significance of early childhood development, and this has had a significant influence on government policies and legislation. 

We are also proud of the major innovations we have brought to the Australian child and family research and implementation context, many of them world-leading. Our success derives from a strong commitment to grounding our work in evidence, a constant striving for excellence, and the development of strong, trusting relationships with our partners and stakeholders. 

Some of the major innovations we've brought to scale: 

  • Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program: We screen the hearing of <98.5% of Victorian newborns in their first weeks of life. 
  • Raisingchildren.net.au: We ensure parents and practitioners have easy access to evidence-based information on children's development.
  • MHiPS: We are embedding Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders in all Victorian primary schools by 2025.
  • AEDC: We led the national roll out of the Australia Early Development Census - a measure of early childhood development - to capture significant new national data to inform policy and practice. 

 

Impact areas

At the Centre for Community Child Health, we have an ambitious plan to target six key areas for change. Our research and knowledge of the factors that influence children's development indicate that investing our efforts in these six priority areas will result in the greatest improvements to child and family outcomes.

Inequities in children's health and development are differential outcomes that are unjust and preventable. From conception, children in Australia do not start on a level playing field. One of the factors that contributes to and perpetuates this inequity is the lack of access many Australian families have to high quality services and supports. To achieve equity, families must be able to access the services and supports they need, when they are needed, and at a quality that will make a difference. Our team is working on a number of exciting initiatives that seek to redress inequity.

Optimising health and wellbeing outcomes for all children to address the unjust and preventable differential outcomes in children’s health and development.

Enabling support for parents and carers through formal and informal networks and the provision of evidence-based information.

Working with communities to transform physical environments, supports, services and facilities to achieve better outcomes for children and families.

Developing cross-sectoral initiatives that recognise the inter‑relationship between health, social-emotional wellbeing and educational outcomes.

Driving awareness and action on child mental health through a prevention and early intervention agenda.