National Framework for Universal Child and Family Health Services

The National Framework for Universal Child and Family Health Services (the Framework) articulates a vision, objectives and principles for universal child and family health services for all Australian children aged zero to eight years and their families. The Framework provides a structure to strengthen (and in some cases build) effective services to ensure all Australian children and their families benefit from free, quality universal child and family health services. It is intended that a national Framework will deliver a number of benefits including: promoting the availability and the role of universal child and family health services to parents, the community as well as health, education and welfare professionals; promoting consistency of service across jurisdictions; providing a contemporary evidence base for service improvement; and progress towards national performance monitoring and the compilation of national population health data for the purposes of comparison across jurisdictions and subpopulations. The Framework does not seek to prescribe service delivery or restrict flexibility in delivering innovative services to meet the needs of communities. Rather, it provides suggestions and support for evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice is described through ‘core service elements’ to guide a consistent approach applicable to all jurisdictions. Universal child and family health services, together with high quality antenatal services, provide the first stage of the universal service system to support human development in Australia. Along with early childhood education and schooling, universal child and family health services aspire to support optimal health and development to give children the best opportunity to succeed in life and learning. The focus of this document is on the universal health service platform that delivers a set of services to all children and families. This population health approach facilitates the systematic identification of children and families who require further assessment, intervention, referral and/or support. Universal child and family health services work alongside targeted or specialist and intensive services for vulnerable families or for those children where a health or development need is identified.