SNAICC-National Voice for our Children

A sneak peak into the planning for the 2025 SNAICC National Conference!

Our Events team made their way over to the Brisbane Convention Centre to get their creative minds thinking about how we can bring next years vision of the conference to life.

We can't say too much, but what we can say is that we can't wait to show you all what we have in store for 2025!

Early childhood education and care should be accessible to all children and their families across Australia, it shouldn't matter who you are or where you live.

That's why this week we headed to Parliament House along with the Thrive by Five crew to have the big conversations around all things early childhood education and care, and how major reform needs to be made in those areas.

All children deserve to benefit off of quality and accessible early childhood education and care.

After months and months of scouting out potential new office spaces and locations around Naarm, the Naarm SNAICC crew has finally settled into their new office in Collingwood! 😎

And what better way to celebrate this than by holding a morning tea, smiles all around! 😁

We want to hear your perspectives on the solutions, priorities and approaches that should make up first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Safety Plan.

Submissions from individuals will not be published, to ensure safety. Written submissions from organisations and academics will be published after the process is finalised, where consent has been provided.

The public submissions process is open until 11.59pm AEST on Friday 25 October 2024.
To share your views and experiences, you can upload a written or audio submission by visiting: https://www.snaicc.org.au/our-work/our-ways-strong-ways-our-voices/family-safety-plan-public-submissions/

SNAICC has been commissioned by the Commonwealth Government to provide support for the community engagement on this plan and from your submissions, we will prepare a consultation report on what we hear.

Take a guess as to where our CEO is this week!

We'll be joining the Thrive by Five team to be apart of the big conversations around access to early childhood education and care, workforce and how best to approach this as it relates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families.

When starting school, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are nearly twice as likely to be lagging in their developmental milestones compared to non-Indigenous children due to the multiple barriers that they face when their families try to access early childhood education and care services.

The Parenthood today released their report IMPACTFUL: the negative impacts of inaccessible early learning on regional, rural and remote communities, which outlines 162 stories from parents, carers, and educators impacted by the national early childhood education and care shortages.

The report calls for a universal model of early childhood education so that children and families from regional, rural and remote Australia have the same opportunities to thrive at school, work and in their communities, as those from the cities.

Read the report here: https://www.theparenthood.org.au/impactful?fbclid=IwY2xjawFLo6RleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHUW0pnEzl2L9vaCCsqtrbExHJRfkfcwBTBrvL1aTZPUVoGzxAWAxYX0yUg_aem_6BgXXURQ9Rw0isTdUoEo2Q

The first five years of a child's life is the most crucial for their development, having supports in these early years can set the trajectory for their life.

Kura Yerlo Inc in Port Adelaide is home to the 45th Connected Beginning site after the program was officially launched last week.

With the introduction of the Connected Beginnings program, it now means that 350 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families within the local area will now have access to culturally safe health, education and family support services. This means that when its time for the young ones to go to school, they'll be ready.

SNAICC will be supporting Kura Yerlo Inc in delivering the Connected Beginnings program within their community.

Anne Aly
Kura Yerlo Inc
Mark Butler MP

SNAICC welcomes the focus on children and young people in this new funding package.
Family, domestic and sexual violence has a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Addressing this through culturally informed and safe programs designed in partnership with ACCO services will be critical in making sure this funding impacts where it needs to – in keeping our children safe and breaking the cycle of violence.

National cabinet promises $4.7 billion plan for frontline family violence services National cabinet has agreed to a $4.7 billion plan to ramp up frontline legal support for people escaping family violence.

This National Child Protection Week, we're taking the opportunity to highlight the Family Matters Report.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are currently over-represented in Australia's child protection system, with current trends indicating that the National Agreement on Closing the Gap’s Target 12 (to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care by 45% by 2031) will not be met.

The Family Matters Report carves a pathway forward into how we can ensure that our young ones can grow up safe and cared for in family, community and culture.

Because when it comes to our children and their families, our mob knows best.

Today marks the beginning of Child Protection Week. This year’s theme is ‘every child in every community needs a fair go’.

Every child deserves to grow up feeling safe and supported, knowing who they are and where they come from. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are currently over-represented in Australia’s child protection system, being disconnected from culture, community and their identity.

Throughout the week, we’ll be putting a spotlight on the Family Matters Report, and looking at the work that’s being done to help turn the tide of our children being over-represented in the child protection system.

“A lack of access to childcare doesn’t just impact people’s ability to go back to work, it also robs kids of access to the quality early learning and support they need to thrive from birth to age five.”

The Thrive by Five Queensland Alliance is calling on QLD politicians to do more for early childhood education after Townsville has been shown to have one of the lowest accessibility rates for early childhood education in the state.

(Article is behind a paywall)

https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/data-shows-townsville-among-the-worst-areas-for-childcare-in-queensland/news-story/d5638799086d52e6ab33c7c2f5f132f1

‘No-brainer’: Advocates call for better childcare accessibility and early learning opportunities Advocacy groups are demanding more be done, as data shows families in Townsville are being frozen out of early learning. The Childcare Deserts report from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute showed Townsville South recorded just 0.017 available places per child.

"The first five years of life are crucial for their social, cognitive, and emotional development. But too many children in the NT are starting school behind."

The Thrive by Five NT Early Childhood Alliance has urged the new Northern Territory Government to take action to help Territorian families who're struggling to access early childhood education and care for their children.

Early Childhood Alliance urges new NT government to support First Nations-led services The new Northern Territory government has been urged to take action to help Territory families struggling to access childcare and allied health services.After their election victory on Saturday, the C...

"This is where people and governments genuinely need to be honest."

More listening to expert advice and investment into community-led solutions are being called for after the release of a Human Rights Report into youth justice was released earlier this week.

Governments urged to 'be honest' on youth justice Governments must listen to expert advice when it comes to youth justice and invest in community-led solutions, Indigenous children's organisations say.A report from the Human Rights Commission, releas...

A new report has found that 700,000 Australian's are living in areas around the country with little to no childcare access.

The report released by the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University, highlights the reality of families living in childcare deserts, with many of these families being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

But childcare deserts for us also exist in urban areas, where there is also a shortage of Aboriginal community controlled services.

The findings from this report has shown that there needs to be a universal early learning and care system in Australia.

A good future starts early. Help brighten the futures of Australian children.

The Australian Government is forming a Parents and Carers Reference Group to help improve policies and services for children and their families.

If you are a parent or carer and would like to make a difference for the future of Australia’s children, express interest in joining the Reference Group.

Expressions of Interest close 3 September 2024.

Learn more at engage.dss.gov.au/PCRG

The School Student Broadband Initiative is an Australian Government Program that offers free home internet to families and carers that have a school age student at home.

See if this program is for you or someone you know.

For more information visit: www.anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet/

The spotlight this week is on SNAICC’s Early Years Support, as the team brought the big conversations to Parliament House about the program and the benefits it brings to children and their families.

SNAICC’s Early Years Support represents the collective voice of over 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled early years services from across the country.

This deadly team works to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children so that they can thrive through high-quality and culturally appropriate early years education.

Because when it comes to our children and their families, our mob knows best.

Jason Clare
Marion Scrymgour MP
Kerrynne Liddle - Liberal Senator for SA

Great to meet and chat in Canberra with the new Minister for Indigenous Australians, Minister McCarthy.

We had the opportunity to talk about all things Early Years Support, and we look forward to working with her and the government in delivering positive outcomes for Aboriginal children and their families.

Senator Malarndirri McCarthy - Northern Territory

The first five years of a child’s life sets the trajectory for their future development.

More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will now have the opportunity to thrive through the establishment of two new Connected Beginnings sites on the NSW Central Coast.

The sites in Wyong and Gosford will help 2,400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families in making sure that they have access to culturally safe health, education and family support services. This means that more children will be ready to go when it’s time for them to walk through the gates of school.

SNAICC will be supporting Barang Regional Alliance in delivering the Connected Beginnings program within these two communities.

Barang Regional Alliance
Anne Aly

We LOVED seeing all the different ways National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day was celebrated over the last week! 🤩

This is what Children's Day is all about, coming together to celebrate the strengths, stories, languages and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and shining a bright light on our future leaders.

A big shoutout to all of the services and organisations who were kind enough to tag us in photos of their celebrations!

🖤💛❤💚💙🤍

Happy National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day you mob!

We hope you all have a deadly day, in whichever way you choose to celebrate!

🖤💛❤💚💙🤍

A BIG day in Ceduna! 🌞

Early celebrations for National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day kicked off today at Ngura Yadurirn and Minya Bunhii.

The event brought together 300 children and their families who all shared a lot of laughs and excitement, and undertook in a lot of fun activities such as art, face painting, damper making and kangaroo tail cooking.

A deadly event that showed us all what Children's Day is all about, coming together to celebrate the strengths and culture of our children.

A very big thank you to Ngura Yadurirn and Minya Bunhii for putting together a fantastic event!

🖤💛❤💚💙🤍

Children’s Day celebrations have begun early at Larapinta Child & Family Centre! 🤩

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day is this week! 😆🙌

Want more information about Children's Day? Make sure to check out our website 👉

Children's Day 2024 | 4 August | SNAICC National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day, held annually 4 August, is our day dedicated to celebrating our children.