Rockdale Child and Family Hub initiative named as finalist in Community Wellness Awards

The Rockdale Child and Family Hub project, an initiative from South Eastern Sydney Local Health District's (SESLHD) Child, Youth and Family Services, was named a finalist in the 2018 Sydney Health Community Network Community Wellness Awards.

The awards recognise organisations and people who strive to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable or disadvantaged people who live and/or work in the Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network (CESPHN) region.

Tania Rimes, Children and Communities Program Coordinator from Child, Youth and Family Services, said the nominated initiative aims to improve the developmental surveillance of children from birth to four years who are from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in the Rockdale area, and to promote wellness among marginalised and vulnerable people and communities.

“If a developmental surveillance is missed and a child starts school with issues that have not been addressed, they can experience poor academic, behavioural and mental health outcomes. We also know that CALD children are at greater risk of developmental vulnerability, due to health service access barriers.

“The Rockdale Child and Family Hub project demonstrated that the co-location of health services in a place where families feel comfortable – and the use of an integrated team-based approach – increased the identification of CALD children at developmental risk.

“The model-of-care also helped achieve parental follow up of referrals, as well as ongoing engagement with early childhood health and developmental services,” Ms Rimes said.

The awards ceremony was held on Wednesday 24 October 2018 at the new CESPHN offices in Mascot.

The Rockdale Child and Family Hub project is one of several Child, Youth and Family Services initiatives aligning with the SESLHD Journey to Excellence strategy of ‘Community Wellbeing and Health Equity.’