Acting early can reduce inequality and create community sustainability. Damien Knight Program Manager Benevolent Society

What is needed is a collective alliance to: Raise public awareness about the nature and importance of the early years. Codesign with parents and children a range of population wide responses Define how the region nurtures and includes all children in its future.

We must make sustained improvements in a child’s social environment.

Every environment, every interaction is an intervention in early development

As a child up to 80 percent of our brain develops within the first two years of life. More than 90 percent by their third

birthday.

Stress in Children Blame the Brain! Not the Child

Impact of stress produces increased cortisol which interupts early brain development. The neural circuits for dealing with stress are particularly malleable (or “plastic”) during the fetal and early childhood periods.

Social benefits of early intervention

Most pronounced for programs that target children and families experiencing disadvantage.

Economic benefits

Thank you

http://benevolent.org.au/acting_early Contact: Research.policy@benevolent.org.au

‘Acting Early, Changing Lives’ report:

Acknowledgement Report prepared by The Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. www.rch.org.au/ccch

Damien Knight Damien.knight@benevolent.org.au

Join our Early Action campaign http://bit.ly/early_action_now

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