Child safety cannot begin at crisis point

For more than 130 years, we have worked alongside children, young people and families through integrated, prevention-focused approaches designed to strengthen safety, connection and wellbeing before crisis escalates.

 

Today, Kids First Australia operates 17 kindergartens nationally in areas of high disadvantage and delivers a range of prevention-focused family support programs, including Caring Dads and the Early Help Family Services Model.

 

Caring Dads works with fathers at risk of, or who have perpetrated, family violence, supporting safer parenting, accountability and healthier family relationships.

 

Early Help supports families earlier through family coaching, practical support and connection to trusted community-based services. The model focuses on strengthening parenting confidence, reducing isolation and helping families navigate complex systems before concerns escalate into crisis.

 

For Kids First Australia, prevention is not simply about providing more services earlier.

 

It is about the quality of the relationships around the child.

 

Children and families are more likely to stabilise when parents, educators, practitioners and communities are working together in consistent, connected and relational ways.

 

Kids First Australia Director, Transformation & Impact Mark Heeney said prevention-focused work must also recognise the broader pressures impacting families and communities.

 

“Children and families are often navigating multiple and intersecting pressures including housing instability, financial stress, family violence, trauma and social isolation,” he said.

 

“We know that when support is available earlier, when it is relational, community-based and connected, families are more likely to stabilise before crisis escalates.”

 

Mr Heeney said the evidence increasingly demonstrates that prevention and diversion away from child protection systems is not just about delivering more services earlier, but strengthening the relationships and support systems around children and families.

 

Kids First Australia Director, Children, Youth & Family Services Sharon Joy said integrated and coordinated support plays a critical role in helping families access support earlier and remain connected to their communities.

 

“Families consistently tell us they value having someone they trust who can work alongside them, help them navigate complex systems and respond flexibly to what is happening in their lives,” she said.

 

“This includes practical and integrated responses for families experiencing pressures such as poverty, housing instability and family violence.”

 

This approach is also reflected through Kids First Australia’s commitment to youth participation and lived experience leadership.

 

Kids First Australia Youth Council Chair Anna Zhang said meaningful prevention must include listening to young people directly and embedding their voices into decision-making processes from the beginning.

 

“Sometimes young people simply need someone to really listen to them with compassion,” she said.

 

Ms Zhang said broader awareness and understanding of trauma and adversity was critical for children and young people experiencing challenges early in life.

 

“I wish the educators and people around me at the time had been able to recognise the signs of trauma and better understand what adversity can look like in a young person,” she said.

 

“I think my life would have been a lot different with that early intervention.”

Ms Zhang said prevention also relies on adults and communities responding when children and young people speak up.

 

“Believing what children and young people tell adults and choosing to be an upstander rather than a bystander, can make a profound difference.”

 

As national conversations continue around the future of child wellbeing and protection systems in Australia, Kids First Australia will continue contributing evidence-informed practice, lived experience perspectives and prevention-focused approaches that strengthen families earlier and reduce escalation into crisis.

 

This work is supported through Victorian Government investment in Early Help services, reflecting growing recognition of prevention-focused approaches that strengthen families before concerns escalate. Similar priorities are also being reflected nationally through the Australian Government’s Children and Family Support (CaFS) Program, which is investing in early intervention and prevention services designed to improve outcomes for children and families.

 

Kids First Australia CEO Nicole Artico’s recent peer-reviewed article, co-authored with Dr Bengianni Halil-Pizzirani, also explored how evidence from the first 1,001 days of life can be translated into early childhood practice through relational pedagogy and integrated support approaches.

 

These perspectives were reflected today by The Age examining the growing pressure on Australia’s child protection system and increasing calls for prevention-focused responses across early childhood, education and family services. As part of the article, Kids First Australia contributed operational insight and evidence from its Early Help Family Services Model, including findings showing 93 per cent of families engaged through the model were diverted from requiring more intensive Child Protection intervention.

 

Read the article here