The strategy is based on clear evidence from Australia and overseas that the early years of a child’s life have a profound impact on their future health, development, learning and wellbeing. It is of concern therefore that Australia is seeing increases in poor outcomes for children and young people in a number of key areas, and a widening of inequalities in outcomes between groups of children.

There are also signs that social changes over recent decades have impacted on family functioning and that some early childhood development and family support services struggle to meet diverse family needs. In particular, more and more families rely on early childhood services to support their workforce participation and the choices they make about how they balance work and family responsibilities.

It is imperative to look at how policy, services, supports and programs may need to adjust to better support families with young children. This is needed to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and to contribute to Australia’s economic goals by supporting workforce participation now and into the future.

A positive start in life helps children develop to their fullest. The benefits accrue to the whole society, through enhanced human capital and capability, increased productivity, greater social inclusion and reduced public expenditure in health, welfare and crime related to disadvantage over the life course.

Healthy and happy children are more likely to become healthy and resilient adults who have more equal capacity, opportunity and resources to contribute to a cohesive and prosperous society. Conversely, children who have a poor start in life are more likely to develop learning, behavioural or emotional problems which may have far-reaching consequences throughout their lives and in turn, the lives of their children.

These problems accrue to the whole society in the form of increased social inequality, reduced productivity and high costs associated with entrenched intergenerational disadvantage. There is good evidence that many programs aimed at alleviating disadvantage during the early years of life are both effective for improving child outcomes and often yield higher returns on investment than remedial interventions later in life.

National reform initiatives that seek to improve early childhood outcomes include:

- a National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education to achieve universal access to quality early childhood education for all children in the year before school by 2013

- a National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Early Childhood Development to establish 35 new Children and Family Centres and to increase access to antenatal care, teenage sexual health and child and family health services for Indigenous children and families

- a six-year National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health with a focus on strategies to prevent chronic diseases that commence in early childhood

- a national quality agenda for early childhood education and care which includes stronger standards, streamlined regulatory approaches, a rating system and an Early Years Learning Framework

- national workforce initiatives to improve the quality and supply of the early childhood education and care workforce

- the Closing the Gap initiative which includes ambitious targets for Indigenous children related to infant mortality, literacy and numeracy and participation in quality early childhood education

- a National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children

- the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians

- a National Family Support Program which brings together eight Commonwealth programs for children, families and parenting

- paid parental leave arrangements

- a National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Children

- development of an Early Intervention and Prevention Framework under the National Disability Agreement

- a National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, with a focus on intervening early for children and their families at risk of homelessness.