Strategy
The Child Care and Family Support Hub Strategy is part of the Queensland Child Care Strategic Plan 2000-2005 and responds to the expressed need of parents for improved access to services.
In the consultation process leading to the development of this plan, parents expressed the need for improved access to education, health and other community services for their children, especially in their children's early years.
The Queensland Government is committed to developing a better integration of services to meet the needs of families and the local community.
Funding for Child Care and Family Support Hub Strategy commenced in 2000/2001 with fourteen services across Queensland receiving funding to develop child care and family support hubs.
Essentially, a child care and family support hub brings together services that aim to meet the diverse needs of children and families within a community. These hubs are focused on the provision of child care and early childhood services and may also include family support services, parenting support, child health services, community activities and education services.
Access to these services will be provided through a single entry point. A hub may operate from a central location, a local network or a central point of coordination. Each hub is unique to the community it supports. The mix of services provided and the operation of each hub is determined by the needs of parents and families in that area.
The focus of all hubs is on the provision of services for children and families, with child care as an integral component of the hub.
The Child Care and Family Support Hub Strategy aims to:
- support communities in developing integrated early childhood services which can respond to a range of child care and family support needs
- encourage communities to discover better links between the range of existing services;
- promote best practice in the provision of community services which are responsive to the needs of families with dependent children
- foster cross-government commitment to the provision of community services
- share key learnings about service integration through an action research framework.
Last updated: 23 June 2008.