What about the kids? Improving the experiences of infants and young people in a changing world

Abstract

How we nurture our babies and young children is universally regarded as fundamental to our humanity. But the ways in which we choose to care for our infants and toddlers are infinitely diverse. Each era, every culture and all families endeavour to create the best possible start in life for their young, but they face many and varied challenges. It is concern about the ways in which Australia is meeting the test of caring for our infants and young children today that has prompted the NSW Commission for Children and Young People, the Queensland Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, and the National Investment for the Early Years organisation (NIFTeY) to look closely at the current situation. Our earlier work \u27A Head Start for Australia’s Children\u27 provided a blueprint for what Australia needed to do to give our children a good start in life. What about the kids? , builds on this earlier work and puts forward concrete suggestions for policy improvements to support the care and education of all babies and young children. This is done both in this short paper and in the larger research paper of the same title by Frances Press