The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Family studies, has a released resource that covers key issues on improving access to childhood services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban and regional areas.
The 17-page resource sheet has analysed the available literature that deals with barriers to access of childhood services and ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in urban and regional areas (where most Indigenous Australians live) can be better engaged in using these services.
Pointing out that most of the current literature describes rather than evaluates programs designed to improve access, the resource draws on about 30 studies to explore practical ways to improve access to a range of early childhood services,
The resource offers suggestions aimed at reducing barriers and promoting engagement, focusing on individual-level, provider-level, program-level, social and neighbourhood-level and cultural-level barriers.
