Kids Early Years Network
The Kids Early Years Network (KEYS) brings together services in Western Sydney for families with young children who may need additional support due to the impacts of adverse events in childhood and the socio-economic determinants of health. By the time children begin school in Australia, their health and developmental outcomes have already been impacted by the circumstances they live in. KEYS is a multi-agency program that targets the 20% of families in Western Sydney with children aged 0-5 years that are at risk of poor outcomes and aims to change the trajectory for the whole family. KEYS is unique in that it works with the trusted service providers already working with families, offering specialist knowledge and new areas of expertise as adjuncts to the activities already in place.
Since its inception, KEYS has worked with over 1000 services across 500 organisations in Western Sydney to help families achieve their goals. Our KEYS partners include the Department of Communities and Justice, The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Western Sydney Local Health District and the Department of Education.
In the last year, KEYS has implemented a new software system that has enhanced the ability of our partners to collaborate with each other. To provide culturally-appropriate and holistic services in Western Sydney, the team also includes a dedicated Disability Specialist Navigator, employed through The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, a Housing Navigator and an identified Aboriginal Navigator.
Over
825
families have been referred to KEYS since 2021
Which is over
3,328
individuals
Overall, families reported an average 1.6 point improvement in each domain of personal wellbeing, ranging from a 1.3 point improvement in family health, to 1.8 point improvement in family sense of achievement. This represents an average 24% improvement from when the families joined KEYS.1
Immunisation Bike Competition
Our annual Immunisation Bike Competition began in 2011 to help incentivise parents to immunise their children on time and improve childhood immunisation rates in Western Sydney. We are proud to share that over 16,900 children in Western Sydney have now been immunised throughout the competition periods over the last 12 years.
Our recent Immunisation Bike Competition ran from 1 October to 31 January, with our gratitude extending to the 110 general practices who partnered with us in this important childhood health campaign. During this period, 550 children, aged 12 months, 18 months and 4 years, were immunised and went into the draw to win a bike and helmet. During each competition period, practices are invited to participate to ensure that children are immunised on time, communities are protected, and families are aware of the importance of timely vaccinations.
Competition Winners 2023-2024
Little Possums
Little Possums provides important, culturally-sensitive support to school children and their families who are experiencing challenges in their lives to help them improve emotional health, self-regulation and relationship- building skills. This support is provided to vulnerable children through Aboriginal mentoring, advocacy and play therapy. Objectives of the program are focused on supporting children to learn life-long skills such as self-regulation and emotional health, leading to success in forming meaningful relationships within family, peer groups and the community.
Background: Amy* is nine years old with strong connections to her extended family. She was referred to Little Possums after her school noticed she was struggling to cope emotionally following the loss of her grandmother.
Support: Amy attended sessions with a Little Possums therapist where she was able to share happy stories in reflection of her late grandmother. As part of her sessions, Amy wrote a letter to place inside her grandmother's coffin and to share with extended family at the funeral. Amy was able to express her emotions and memories both in word and art, including drawing the Aboriginal flag on the letter as an important connection to her grandmother.
Outcome: Amy was able to express herself, felt she had a voice within her family and learnt how to manage her grief and loss with support of the program. Amy’s teacher advised that she had become more interactive in class and appeared to be coping better after her sessions with the therapist.
Reference:
- Western Sydney University and TReSI (2023), Kids Early Years Network (KEYS) Evaluation, Sydney, NSW