Early childhood development & disability support: Building effective services and systems

Early childhood development & adult disability support: Building better services

Thursday 16th July 2026, 12:00pm-1:00pm AEST, online via MS Teams

Hosted by Family and Community Services Insights, Analysis and Research (FACSIAR)

Details

In this FACSIAR Lunch and Learn webinar, leading experts will explore how service systems can better support people across the life course—from equitable access to early childhood development services through to high-quality disability support for adults. Professor Sharon Goldfeld, Director of the Centre for Community Child Health at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, will examine the challenges and opportunities for early childhood development in Australia. She will outline what we understand about child development, highlighting how we can better promote healthy development at a population level. Her presentation will explore where and how interventions can be most effective - from developmental promotion and early detection, through prevention and early intervention - focusing on how good service design can help prevent inequities.

Emeritus Professor Christine Bigby, AO, founding Director of the Living with Disability Research Centre at La Trobe University, will turn to quality in service delivery, with a particular focus on support for everyday living for adults with disabilities. Drawing on research and practical examples, she will discuss what constitutes good quality practice with clients, how it can be embedded into program design, and how we can better measure outcomes. She will also explore how services can effectively support people to be engaged in meaningful activities and make decisions that reflect their needs and preferences.

The session will conclude with a panel discussion on the implications for policy and practice across sectors.

The webinar will be chaired by Jessica Stewart, Executive Director, FACSIAR, Department of Communities and Justice.

Presenters:

• Professor Sharon Goldfeld - Director, Centre for Community Child Health, The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Director Population Health and Co-Group Leader Policy and Equity, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne

• Emeritus Professor Christine Bigby, AO - Founding Director of the Living with Disability Research Centre at La Trobe University, President of the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability.

Panel discussion:

• Kathryn McKenzie - Director, Operations, NSW Ageing and Disability Commission

• Fiona McEwan - Manager, Service Design, NSW Trustee and Guardian

Automated captioning via MS Teams is available. The session is then fully captioned and available on YouTube within one week of the live event. A link will be sent to all those who register.

Questions or comments?

Contact: ResearchPartnerships@dcj.nsw.gov.au