The NSW Government has today launched a whole-of-government initiative to better support families that are navigating the first 2000 days of their child\u2019s life.
\nMinister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell said the Brighter Beginnings initiative focuses on this crucial period from conception to age 5, across the breadth of government services.
\nBrighter Beginnings aims to ensure children in NSW have the best start in life. Crucial to achieving this goal is simplifying and improving the way families access information and services, through a number of parenting life navigator tools and a whole of government web page.
\nThis provides a one stop shop of resources for families when expecting a baby and will support them throughout their child\u2019s early life. This includes keeping track of health and development milestones, accessing financial support, finding early childhood education and care, starting primary school, returning to work and emotional and legal support for parents.
\n\u201cWe know 90% of a child\u2019s brain development occurs before the age of five, and there is a wealth of research on how early experiences in the first 2000 days of life can have flow-on impacts in every decade of life,\u201d said Minister Mitchell.
\n\u201cWe also know this is a challenging and often overwhelming time for new parents.
\n\u201cFamilies have told us it can be difficult to access and navigate the support available, from pregnancy to school age and beyond, so we want to make this journey as simple as possible to ensure children are getting the best start in life.
\n\u201cTo achieve this, we are working across government agencies to improve information for families, connect universal services and provide targeted support for those facing complex disadvantage.\u201d
\nMinister for Families, Communities and Disability Services Gareth Ward said Brighter Beginnings would help improve the life outcomes of vulnerable children and young people.
\n\u201cOur Government is focused on keeping families together by intervening early, with\u00a0 evidence-based services, when issues arise,\u201d Mr Ward said.
\n\u201cThis initiative will help parents be better parents, by giving them access to the skills and knowledge they need to navigate the first 2,000 days of their child\u2019s life.\u201d
\nMinister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said the initiative is another example of the NSW Government using technology to make life easier for families.
\n\u201cThe first years of a child\u2019s life are among the most special and memorable for parents but also the most stressful, which is why a digital diary is needed to help manage the important issues,\u201d Mr Dominello said.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re putting families front and centre of this initiative by saving them time and hassle, so they can spend more time on their newborns.\u201d
\nBrighter Beginnings: the first 2000 days of life initiative launches 30 October 2020 with a virtual conference that will bring together government leaders, policy makers, leading experts and researchers. The event will explore the importance of the first 2000 days of life from health, wellbeing and education perspectives, and opportunities for governments and service providers to work together for improved citizen experiences and life outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NSW Government has today launched a whole-of-government initiative to better support families that are navigating the first 2000 days of their child\u2019s life. Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell said the Brighter Beginnings initiative focuses on this crucial period from conception to age 5, across the breadth of government services. Brighter … Continue reading “WORKING TOGETHER FOR A BRIGHTER BEGINNING”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}