This is the final report of the 3-year evaluation of the Australian Government’s Stronger Families and Communities Strategy 2000-2004 and summarises the achievements and learnings from the Strategy. These have implications for future policy and practice in early intervention, holistic family support, integrated family and community strengthening projects, playgroups, community capacity building, community leadership, mentoring...

The Potential Leaders in Local Communities initiative of the Australian Government's Stronger Families and Communities Strategy focused leadership development initiatives on four largely disadvantaged social groups – youth, Indigenous communities, women, and rural and regional communities – to address various social issues. This paper evaluates the outcomes of the initiative. A number of different strategies...

An evaluative case study undertaken as part of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. The report assesses the achievements in the implementation and effectiveness of the Strategy in addressing the local issues of social isolation, youth at risk, families with young children and disempowerment of the Indigenous population around Mandurah in Western Australia.

This literature review and background paper is the starting point for an exploration of the viability of developing a culturally appropriate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child care quality assurance system. The Australian government is undertaking this work in collaboration with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care and the National Childcare Accreditation...

This Policy research paper is the first study based on Australian data on the labour supply behaviour of households in relation to child care. The research demonstrates that assistance with the cost of child care is very important in promoting choice for women to participate in the workforce, particularly if they have non-school age children...