Changing Children’s Chances is delivering robust evidence to inform more effective and precise policy decisions.

Children’s early experiences shape their health, development and wellbeing. And when children experience inequities, it can undermine their health and development now and into the future. This is currently the case for a third of Australian children that are experiencing disadvantage. Addtionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has made things even harder for these children. We have found that reducing inequities can improve children’s health, development and wellbeing, but no single policy or service will close the equity gap alone.

The Changing Children’s Chances project uses new and creative ways to analyse existing data and test which combinations of interventions work best to ensure all children have an opportunity to thrive. By stacking interventions in early childhood, we can reduce inequities in children’s reading skills, mental health and physical health by the time they start school. This requires action across families, communities and policies to achieve the best outcomes for all.

The Changing Children’s Chances project team have published two new resources:

• Changing Children’s Chances project overview
• Changing Children’s Chances brief summary

Our findings can help decision makers understand how to use limited public funding more effectively. Informed decisions lead to more precisely-targeted policies (when, for whom, how much?), with greater impact, and the speed needed to make a difference now.

To find out more visit the CCC project website.