Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY)
The Alliance is a new venture established in 2002 - a national collaboration of researchers, policy makers and practitioners from a broad range of disciplines who are together building a better future for Australia's children and young people. The Alliance has two primary goals:
- To promote collaborative research and agenda setting for children and young people.
- To promote the application of research to policy and practice for children and young people.
Chief Executive Officer, Professor Fiona Stanley AC, was recently named as 2003 Australian of the Year.
National Investment for the Early Years (NIFTeY)
NIFTeY emerged out of the National Initiative for the Early Years that arose as an outcome of a meeting of academics, practitioners and government officials held in Canberra on March 5 1999.
Objectives:
- To promote development, implementation and evaluation of strategies in the early years of life that advance the health, development and wellbeing of all children in Australia
- To advance community knowledge and the education and support of parents in relation to the importance of the first three years of a child's life so as to promote the social, cognitive, emotional and physical well being of all children
- To encourage the provision of resources and services to communities and families where children are known to be disadvantaged, and
- To promote and disseminate research relevant to the early years of life including monitoring the status of young children.
To subscribe to niftey-list, the listserver that provides a mailing service to over 600 subscribers in Australia send an email to: mailserv@newcastle.edu.au
National Child Protection Clearinghouse
The National Child Protection Clearinghouse is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services as part of the Commonwealth's response to the problem of child abuse. The National Child Protection Clearinghouse has operated from the Australian Institute of Family Studies since 1995 and provides an information/advisory service to workers in the field.
Its goal is to inform policy, practice and research into child abuse prevention.
Website features:
- Electronic library of research literature and other resources
- Mailing list
- Database of child abuse prevention projects and activities
- Email discussion list - the childprotect e-list
- Education and training
- Program evaluation consultancy service
Australian Institute of Criminology
The Australian Institute of Criminology is the national focus for the study of crime and criminal justice in Australia and for the dissemination of criminal justice information. The Institute draws on information supplied to it by a wide variety of sources and its policy advice is objective and independent.
The functions of the AIC include:
- conducting criminological research;
- communicating the results of research;
- conducting or arranging conferences, seminars or courses of training; and
- publishing material arising out of the the AIC's work.
UNESCO Early Childhood and Family Education
http://www.unesco.org/education/index.shtml
UNESCO's Early Childhood and Family Education section co-ordinates research, activities and initiatives undertaken by UNESCO in early childhood care and education, and parent and family education.
Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies
http://www.acwa.asn.au/ACWA was founded as a peak body in 1958 New South Wales with the objectives of supporting non government agencies and improving the quality of services to children and young people who need to live away from their families.
Activities and website highlights:
- Training for the community and welfare sector
- Foster care and out of home care forums
- Research and information dissemination
- Community and family services directory
- Community events listings
- Developing Practice journal
Center for Child Well-being
http://www.childwellbeing.org/
The Center for Child Well-being is a program of The Task Force for Child Survival and Development. The Center focuses on nurturing strengths in children that contribute to their health and well-being, including physical health, growth of the mind, and social and emotional development. Well-being results from children having the supports, strengths, and opportunities they need to grow and experience full lives, right from the start.
The web site has several objectives: 1) to show how a child's development of physical health, cognitive growth, and social and emotional development contributes to well-being; 2) to give practical information on ways care-givers can nurture strengths in these three areas; and 3) to refer the user to many organizations that provide resources at the community and national levels.
Child Abuse Prevention Network
The Child Abuse Prevention Network operates as a collaborative among its members and partners. Major sources of support have come from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Army Family Advocacy Program, and from the Network's home base at Cornell University's College of Human Ecology, and it's Family Life Development Center. The Network has over 1,000 members and provides access to over 1,500 professionals in research and related field through various electronic mailing lists.
E-lists for professionals include:
- Child Abuse & Neglect Intervention and Treatment Issues
- Child Abuse Research
- Shaken Baby Syndrome
Australian Network for Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health
http://auseinet.flinders.edu.au/
Auseinet is a national project funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care under the Mental Health Strategy and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
The Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care is expanding the original Auseinet project to include promotion, prevention and early intervention, as well as suicide prevention, across the entire lifespan. The Auseinet project will build on the outcomes and learnings of the first phase. It will help inform and educate mental health and other sectors and the community on the concepts of mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention and suicide prevention. It will also make appropriate links to international organisations and initiatives.
The Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health is a peer reviewed electronic journal which aims to nurture and encourage understanding of mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention within a multidisciplinary forum. The journal is a forum for researchers and practitioners from different disciplines, cultures and countries to come together in order to achieve conceptual clarity and advance the development, evaluation and implementation of effective strategies.
KidsCount Website
www.kidscount.com.au/website/default.asp
This new website is part of the Every Child is Important Program, an initiative funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The website parenting information in 16 languages in both audio and print formats.
Raising Children Website
This new national website, launched in May 2006, is funded under the Australian Government's Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. It was developed by the Raising Children Network which is made up of 3 consortium members: the Smart Population Foundation, the Victorian Parenting Centre and the Centre for Community Child Health. It provides information that can help parents with the day-to-day decisions of raising children, as well as looking after their own needs.