Day One - Early Childhood Development in Indigenous Communities
Tuesday 21st September, 2010

8:00
REGISTRATION, COFFEE & NETWORKING
8:30
Welcome to Country
Kelvin Costello
Member of Larrakia people
8:40
Welcome remarks from the Chair
Lenore Dembski
Adeliesje Calma-Goodrem
Paperbark Women, NT
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
8:50 KEYNOTE:
Improving uptake of early childhood services to reduce vulnerability of children

  • Fostering parental, community & national responsibility in child protection
  • Using communities to improve service design & delivery
Dr Sue Gordon AM
Retired Children´s Magistrate WA
Former Chair
Northern Territory Emergency Response Taskforce

9:30
Identifying leverage points to improve developmental outcomes for Indigenous children

  • Policy & practice implications of recent early childhood research
  • Short & medium-term priority areas in child protection, health, wellbeing & development
Professor Sven Silburn, Head Child Development Research
Menzies School of Health Research
Steering Committee Member
Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children

10:10
Improving social & educational support systems to reduce alcohol consumption & smoking

  • The prevalence of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome & its effects on child & maternal wellbeing
  • Improving information flows & programs to address alcohol & smoking
Scott Wilson, Director
Aboriginal Drug & Alcohol Council SA
Deputy Chair
Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation

10:40
MORNING TEA & NETWORKING
A NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT TO IMPROVE CHILD DEVELOPMENT
11:10 SPECIAL ADDRESS:
Increasing access to early childhood education & integrated early childhood services

  • Cross-Government partnerships to integrate services through Children & Family Centres
  • Increasing Indigenous early childhood workforce capacity for sustainable services
Ngaire Hosking
Group Manager
Indigenous Pathways & Early Learning, OECECC
DEEWR

11:50 CASE STUDY:
Partnership & governance arrangements for Children & Family Centres

  • The importance of self-determination when building accessible centres
  • Delivering services in line with community expectations
Jason King
CEO
Gippsland & East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative

12:20
LUNCH
DESIGNING & DELIVERING ACCESSIBLE CHILD & MATERNAL SERVICES
1:30
Community engagement to empower families & develop required services

  • The importance of healing to build better programs
  • Liaising with all stakeholders in a community endorsed language
  • Implementing a top-down directive from the bottom-up
Debbie Moyle
Principal Policy Adviser Aboriginal Early Child Development
Early Childhood Services

Julie White
Senior Policy Officer Early Childhood Development, Early Childhood Services
Department of Education & Children´s Services SA

2:00
Building workforce capacity using appropriate teaching programs

  • Barriers to education & professional development in remote communities
  • Developing a nationally-recognised qualification process
Dr Lyn Fasoli
Associate Professor
Indigenous Early Childhood Research

Alison Wunungmurra
Children´s Services Lecturer
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

2:30 CASE STUDY:
Effectively working with mothers & community to deliver maternal & child care

  • Improving mother & child wellbeing through health literacy & personal development
  • Aligning community & Government objectives to improve program outcomes
Leslie-Ann Conway
Executive Manager
Ngunytju Tjitji Pirni
Member
WA Aboriginal & Education Training Council

3:10
AFTERNOON TEA & NETWORKING
DATA INTEGRITY & QUALITY
3:40
Measuring child wellbeing

  • Progress made in improving Indigenous data gaps
  • Using quality, accurate data to improve policy design
Dr Fadwa Al-Yaman
Senior Executive, Social & Indigenous Group
AIHW

4:10
Roundtable Discussions
4:50
Closing remarks from the Chair
5:00
CLOSE OF DAY ONE
6:00
COMPLIMENTARY NETWORKING DINNER