The Nest: National Plan for Child & Youth Wellbeing

Dr Lance EmersonCEO – Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth (ARACY)

Our guiding principles:

• focus on prevention & life-pathways • work across sectors and disciplines• provide a neutral space for organisational

collaboration• value add to our members work• progress sustainable, evidence-based action

collaborative hub of 2,200 members

Researchers

Policy

Practitioners & professions

Children & youth

Community & business

The Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth (ARACY)

1. Advocacy2. Supporting evidence based practice & policy3. Translational research (focus on systems change)

.. some recent achievements

COAG / FaHCSIA partnership for

around 20 trial sites: Prevention of child

abuse at the system level

Australia’s first international

comparative report on child wellbeing

Advocacy & research: Australia's

Early Childhood Agenda

Instigating a middle years agenda for

Australia children aged 9-14 (&social and

emotional learning)

.... and in the pipeline for 2012

Formative work on national social marketing campaign:

“Engaging families in the ECD story”

(COAG, with SA DECs)

Sustained nurse home visiting efficacy trial

(largest ever conducted)

1st Biennial Australian Implementation

Conference (25-26 October 2012)

MelbourneA national plan for child and

youth wellbeing

5 www.aracy.org.auwww.aracy.org.auRelative OECD country ranking for child and youth wellbeing (red bar= Australia)

“…life expectancy for Australian children alive today will fall two years by the time they are 20 years old. After centuries of rising life expectancy, we are now staring

down the barrel of a decline... ”

High child & youth wellbeing

Low child & youth wellbeing

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

top ten countries?

Why do we need it?• We could be doing better:

• Australia “middle-of-the-road” for child and youth wellbeing

• Improving outcomes for children & young people requires a long term, evidence based, partnership based approach• government(s) cant solve these problems alone• problems affecting young people are complex, don’t have an immediate single

solution, & no single entity can bring about change• our efforts generally lack coordination • we could make better use of evidence to guide action

• The personal, social and economic costs are unacceptably high

What is The Nest? • A national plan for child & youth wellbeing:• It’s a resource:

• Report Card: how children and young people are faring• Evidence: what works to improve outcomes• A vision: to help align efforts towards common goals• Children's views: detailing what children, young people and

families think is important to improve wellbeing • In 2013 – work toward an integrated plan

The Nest: Collective impact• Common agenda : “a shared vision for change, one that includes

common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving it.. “

• Shared measurement system: “agreement on a common agenda is illusory without agreement on the ways success will be measured and reported”.

• Mutually reinforcing activities “coordination of [participants] differentiated activities through a mutually reinforcing plan of action”.

• Continuous communication : developing trust, common vocabulary “building upon .. experience of each other and recognize and appreciate the common motivation behind their efforts”

• Backbone support organisations : “the expectation that collaboration can occur without a supporting infrastructure is one of the most frequent reasons why it fails..

National Action Plan for child and youth wellbeing

The plan itselfWhat outcomes do we want? 5 Key Result Areas (KRAs)

How would we recognise them? ̴� 50 indicators

How well are we doing?Baselines (trend analysis)

Story behind the baselinesStock-take of existing policies

What works to turn the curve? Literature review of evidence-based interventions & ‘game changers’

What criteria should guide action? Drafting a National Action Plan

Overall aim: That Australian children and young people have the highest levels of wellbeing in the OECD

KRA 1: Children & Young people are

loved and safe •Trusted communications with parents and peers•Parental hostility:•Parental perception of neighbourhood characteristics•Positive peer relationships•Children entering out-of-home care•Detention of children and young people

KRA2 : Children & Young people have

material basics •Stable housing•Housing amenity•Poverty•Parental employment•Internet access•Community participation•Unemployment

KRA 3: Children and young people are

healthy •Low birth weight•Immunisation•Physical health•Dental Health•Rates of injury•Suicide

KRA 4: Children and young people are learning

• Parent engagement in

their child’s learning• Early Childhood

development vulnerability

• Early childhood education participation:

• Australian child and youth reading, writing and numeracy skills

• Australian youth performance for reading and mathematics

• Youth engagement in formal and non-formal learning

• School retention, completion and participation

KRA 5: Children & young people are

participating

•No appropriate indicators identified

Supportive ‘game changers’ to achieve the KRA outcomes (draft)

•Reducing income disparity in Australia / reducing the disadvantage caused by income inequality•Improving our performance on the AEDI•Improving the educational performance of young Australians •Improving the social and emotional wellbeing of young Australians •Recasting the service system designed to improve the wellbeing of young Australians

Plans for achieving these KRAs to be

developed & discussed at the second Summit

Plans for achieving these game changers

be developed & discussed at second

Summit

The overall aim, KRAs & game changers to be discussed at the “Phase 1” Summit on 23 November 2012

Specific plans to be discussed at the “Phase

2” Summit in 2013

Project processes

First summit(Phase 1 – discussing the

vision and ‘game changers’)

Public consultation

Evidence review

Second summit(Phase 2 – planning for

implementation)

Public consultation

Aiming for 2000 responses

Online surveys (4 for different age groups)

150 partners using the nest resource kit- around 500 participants

to supplement partner activities (as required)

Face-to-face activities

(e.g inschools, NGO’s, etc..)

F2F activities (ARACY)

Questionnaire (all ages) Activity (3-8 year-olds)

Survey-basedDiscussion-basedRole-playingCreative

Group discussionsForumsInterviews

Results: what are young people saying?LO

VED

& S

AFE

HEALTH

MATERIAL BASICS

Family, relationships,

being surrounded by loved ones

Friends, connections and a social life

Safe, stable home

environment

Support networks & services

Food, water, shelter

Money and work

Healthy eating, exercise, good physical health

Happiness, positive outlook

Self esteem & value

Participation in education

Opportunities to grow and develop self

Developing values and morals

Involved in community

Freedom & independence

Having a voice that is

heard

Leisure and fun

Figure 1: Areas and themes contributing to ‘ a good life’

Results: what are young people saying?

Good / Very good Okay Bad / Very bad

• Access to services (e.g. health, education)

• Opportunities available to children and young people

• Australia compares well to other countries

• Have the basics in place (food, shelter etc)

• Support and a ‘safety net’ provided

• Inequity and gaps in wellbeing

• Parenting issues

• Safety concerns and fear, crime, and bullying

• Pressure on children, growing up too fast

• Health issues faced by children and young people

• Parenting issues

• Tough economic conditions and lack of opportunities

• Safety concerns and fear, crime, and bullying

• Lack of respect, responsibility and discipline of children and young people

• Pressure on children, growing up too fast

Table 1: Why life is considered good/okay/bad for children and young people in Australia

What are young people saying?

PROVISION AND SUPPORT

More support, resources & services for those in need

Better funding, programs & policies

Lower cost of living / affordability

More jobs and access to jobs

HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS

Improve physical & mental health

More involvement in sport &exercise

Engage in fun and play

Reduce access to technology, TV etc

Teach self esteem, how to value oneself

BETTER EDUCATION

Improve education standards and consistency

Help with cost of further education

Accessibility to subjects & courses

PARENTING

Opportunities to spend more time with children

Parental education & information

Community engagement in welfare

Demonstrations of love & understanding

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Address public safety concerns through prevention & protection

Increased focus and seriousness on tackling bullying

‘Alternatives’ to drugs, alcohol, antisocial behaviour – places to go

PARTICIPATION

Greater freedom & opportunities to develop self

Be given a voice in community development and decisions

Provision & involvement in community groups / facilities

Self discipline and regulation

Table 2: Issues and ideas to address

National summit• Leaders, decision-makers, meet with young Australians

to discuss and progress priorities for child and youth wellbeing• WHEN: 23 November 2012• WHERE: Melbourne• WHO: 200 attendees

• Politicians, policy-makers, researchers, service providers, child and youth advocates, lead sector

• Youth Engagement as a core element in the • Co-design of strategies on the game changers• Sector leaders

Implementation (2013 onwards)Collating & building

on the evidence

Tracking progress

Making it useful “on the ground”

Advocating for change

- Prioritising effort: NFP / Government / leading sector thinkers- An advocacy platform (ARACY Prevention Science Network)

- A charter for organisations to take action

- Create an updatable, interactive web-based resource - Building on / linking to existing evidence clearinghouses

- A “wellbeing scorecard” : modelled off 2008 ARACY scorecard - Public report on targets for The Nest indicators

- -Establishes a common outcomes framework for child & youth wellbeing

(Link with PC report on impact of 3rd sector)- Enabling collaboration and reducing duplication

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http://www.thenestproject.org.au/