Around twelve percent of people who were currently in an area affected by drought have mental health problems compared to seven percent in areas which haven’t been hit by drought in the last three years according to this paper. Note: This paper was given at the 2009 Australian Social Policy Conference and is only in...

This report presents the results of the evaluation of the short-run impacts of the Communities for Children (CfC) initiative on child, family and community outcomes. The study was based on a three-wave longitudinal study of 2,202 families living in 10 sites that had a CfC program and five sites comparable to the CfC sites (contrast...

This national evaluation covers three of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (SFCS) initiatives: Communities for Children (CfC), Invest to Grow and Local Answers. It examines service provision, service coordination, Indigenous families and children in CfC sites, factors that facilitate or hinder service provision and outcomes, and sustainability.

This report focuses on children's readiness for school, considering the role of families, schools and communities as facilitators and inhibitors. The transition from home to school is a major change in children’s lives, being the first compulsory and universal point of contact between the child and broader social institutions. This can be a challenging period...

The most recent drought has been one of the most severe on record with large parts of southern and eastern Australia experiencing dry conditions since 1996. Moreover, 'For the agriculturally important Murray- Darling Basin, however, October 2007 marks the sixth anniversary of lower than average rainfall totals, with the November 2001 to October 2007 period...