The inaugural Child First Forum saw community services come together to spur conversation around what’s causing the ACT’s children to face the country’s second-highest rates of developmental vulnerability. Photo: Facebook.
The ACT has the second-highest percentage of developmentally vulnerable children in the country, but what’s causing this issue is the “million-dollar question”.
Families ACT executive director Rebecca Zappelli said the volunteers hosted the Territory’s inaugural Child First Forum to try and find out.
“We have a vulnerability crisis,” she said.
“The risk in the ACT is this will become more and more entrenched unless we do something now, we are at our crisis point.”
According to the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) 2021 survey, 26.7 per cent of Canberra’s children were developmentally vulnerable on one domain, and 13.3 per cent on two or more.
The domains of child development measured are: physical health and wellbeing; social competence; emotional maturity; school-based language and cognitive skills; and communication skills and general knowledge.
The ACT was second to the Northern Territory in every category except for language and cognitive skills.
The highest rates of childhood development vulnerability were in the Belconnen and Tuggeranong areas.
Top 20 developmentally vulnerable suburbs in the ACT, sorted by percentage of children developmentally vulnerable in one or more domains, 2021. Photo: AEDC/Families ACT.
Ms Zappelli said this issue became apparent when children entered school.
“So we want to get intervention in those early years, before they reach school,” she said.
“We have some interventions at a community and school level, but there needs to be structural change to complement those efforts.”
The AEDC website stated investing time, effort and resources into children’s early years brought “lifelong benefits” to them and the community.
“Gaps in children’s performance levels open up early and stay mostly constant after eight years of age. Beyond eight years, school environments can only play a small role in reducing these differences,” it stated.
“Investing in the early years can reduce expenditure on special education, criminal justice and welfare, and can increase national productivity by improving the skills of the workforce, reducing disadvantage and strengthening the global competitiveness of the economy.”
The AEDC survey has been conducted every three years since 2009. According to data from 2015 onwards, while most other states and territories either decreased or marginally increased their rates, the ACT reported an overall increase of 4.2 per cent.
That’s compared to an increase of 0.9 per cent in NSW and a 2.1 per cent increase by Tasmania, a reduction of 1.4 per cent in child developmental vulnerability in QLD and Victoria’s levels remaining stable.
Child developmental vulnerability across all domains and jurisdictions, 2021. Photo: AEDC/Families ACT.
Ms Zappelli said there were a lot of theories about why the ACT was experiencing such a high rate of child developmental vulnerability.
These include changes to NDIS reforms, the high proportion of Canberra kids in long daycare, lack of easily accessible perinatal health and wellbeing services across the Territory, and difficulties accessing playgroups.
“One key driver is potentially around poverty, but we just don’t know,” Ms Zappelli said.
“What we are seeing [in the community sector] is that vulnerability is increasing, more people need support, more people are engaging with services.
“It’s the million-dollar question: what is it that’s driving this?”
She said it was hoped the forum would lead to more strategic investments across the Territory rather than a “broad-brush” approach.
Other aims include getting children’s voices more involved in influencing policy and for better data and information to be collected.
The next AEDC survey results are due this year.
During the recent Legislative Assembly sitting week, the ACT Government was asked if the rate had improved since 2021.
The question was taken on notice, given the data is not yet available.
Children, Youth and Families Minister Michael Pettersson was also asked what the government had done to support developmentally vulnerable kids.
This was also taken on notice, given the issue didn’t “neatly fit” within the one portfolio.
