Volunteer Family Connect (VFC) is a community-based early intervention program, in which trained volunteers provide one-on-one support to isolated and/or vulnerable parents and carers of young children. In 2012 a consortium was formed including three not-for-profit organisations (The Benevolent Society, Karitane, Save the Children), two universities (Macquarie University, Western Sydney University) and one corporate partner (Ernst & Young), to develop a theory of change and to rigorously examine the effectiveness of volunteer home visiting in the Australian context. A randomised-controlled trial is currently underway in four states.

One of the innovative aspects of this research is that it includes social return on investment (SROI) analysis, a first world-wide for volunteer home visiting research. In this presentation we will discuss SROI findings for the VFC program, based on pilot study findings and other evidence of effectiveness from the research literature. The SROI has focused on the costs and benefits for each of the stakeholders in the VFC program, including: parents; children; volunteers; government; and the host organisations.

Pilot study findings indicate that over a 6-month period, VFC supported improved outcomes for the participating parents, children, and the volunteers who deliver the program. A key SROI finding is that the Government reaps the largest share of the benefits from VFC, mainly because this program prevents families from accessing more costly Government funded programs. This is an interesting finding in light of decreases in government funding support for volunteer home visiting programs in Australia. SROI findings will be discussed in full.

Early childhood presents a critical window of opportunity for enhancing learning and development and highlights the importance of prioritising prevention and early intervention to maximise individual and community potential, and to minimise costly and less effective interventions later in life. Driving Change: Intervening Early – the Third Action Plan of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children – identifies the role of increasing community awareness of the importance of child development and parenting as key areas for action. The Third Action Plan commits to awareness raising activities focussing on parenting practices to enhance safe and supportive environments. This project was commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Social Services to inform the development and dissemination of messages to raise community awareness of parenting and contribute to creating safe environments in which children can thrive. We conducted a desktop search and contacted stakeholders across Australia to identify initiatives with messages about parenting in the first 1000 days. Of the 125 initiatives identified, 14 were shortlisted for further analysis. Following an assessment of their strengths and an analysis of the evidence for communicating and messaging with parents, six initiatives were found to be exemplar. Drawing on the identified initiatives and the evidence, we present recommendations for the development of messages, messaging about parenting, campaign development and further communications research. These recommendations can be used to inform the development of community awareness raising initiatives about the importance of parenting and the early years.

A focus on the first 1,000 days can leave practitioners, researchers and policy makers challenged to communicate the science of early childhood development. The ability to do this effectively has lasting implications for informed decision making and the public support of good, evidence-based policy and practice.

In seeking to bridge the gap between what we ‘know’ about the science of early childhood and what we ‘do’, the Centre for Community Child Health, with the support of early childhood peak bodies and the Victorian and Australian governments, engaged the FrameWorks Institute to conduct strategic communications research in Australia. The research identified some of the most prevalent and highly shared ‘cultural models’ that ordinary Australians rely on when asked to think about what early childhood development is, how it happens and what should be done to improve its outcomes.

More than 4,600 Australians participated in the research that identified 11 important ‘gaps’ between what the experts know and what the public thinks about early childhood development that posed barriers to understanding and a number of core values that increased public support for evidence-based early childhood policy.

This presentation will outline the results of the research and discuss the implications for innovative communications practice around the ‘first 1,000 days’ in Australia.