Please see below details of upcoming Christmas events for children and families.
Every child has the right to feel safe, loved, and free to dream big. Yet for many children in Australia, trauma related to abuse or neglect takes away that sense of safety and belonging. In 2023–2024, more than 42,000 cases of abuse or neglect were confirmed across the country. With the right support, children can begin to heal from trauma, rebuild their confidence, and go onto thrive as they grow.
Over the past decade, Mental Health Academy and Act for Kids have proudly partnered to raise nearly $1.3 million to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect across Australia. This year, we’re honoured to welcome Emerging Minds—a national leader in promoting the mental health and emotional wellbeing of Australian infants, children, adolescents, and their families—as a key partner in this important initiative.
When you register for the 2025 Mental Health Super Summit, you’ll unlock 20 hours of high-quality professional learning led by 20 global experts—from as little as $25. And with all funds being donated to charity, your participation will help transform the lives of Australian children and families, supporting them to live safer, more fulfilling lives—free from trauma
Around 65,000 prep students across Victoria will receive a bag of five free books as part of a student literacy initiative under Jacinta Allan’s Labor Government.
This program aims to foster a love of reading and support the development of children’s literacy skills from their very first year at school. A panel of experts have carefully selected the books for their engaging stories, and appeal to young students.
The book packs will include:
- Chooks in Dinner Suits – written by Diane Jackson Hill and illustrated by Craig Smith
- The Concrete Garden – written and illustrated by Bob Graham
- Frank’s Red Hat – written and illustrated by Sean E Avery
- The Bin Monster – written by Annabelle Hale
- Sharing – written by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson and illustrated by Leanne Mulgo Watson
To ensure accessibility, the books will also come in a braille format with tactile illustrations.
The Centre welcomes this program, with CEO Deb Tsorbaris saying: “This is a great initiative, effectively democratising reading, by giving every child coming into prep next year an opportunity to learn the fun and learning that can come from reading, including access to a First Nations book”.
This builds on the 2019 Books in Bags scheme, which has gifted more than 2.2 million books to young children across Victoria.
By providing high-quality and accessible resources for literacy development, this program is helping to create an equal platform for all young children to support their education.
The Victorian Government has released the third rolling action plan to end family and sexual violence.
Until every Victorian is safe builds on the first and second rolling action plans under Ending Family Violence: Victoria’s Plan for Change.
It also extends on Strong Foundations: Building on Victoria’s work to end family violence, which was published in 2023 to explain our progress so far and what is needed next.
The Victorian Government will overhaul child safety and the regulation of early childhood education and care that will put child safety at the centre of every decision and rebuild trust in the sector.
On 2 July 2025, the Premier commissioned an independent Rapid Child Safety Review (the Review) in response to distressing allegations of abuse in childcare centres.
The Review, led by Mr Jay Weatherill AO and Ms Pam White PSM, has identified key actions for government to take to improve child safety – including actions Victoria can take to accelerate the child-safety reforms being considered nationally.
The Victorian Government accepts and will act urgently to implement all 22 recommendations of the Review to strengthen safety standards in early childhood education and care, to keep Victorian children safe. Read here
Recent changes to the process for enrolling in ESK mean that children (and children with a parent, carer or legal guardian) who previously held a refugee or asylum seeker visa are no longer required to seek exemptions from the department. This will make it easier for these families to enrol and mean less administration for services.
More information on the eligibility criteria for ESK and Pre-Prep in 2026 will be made available on the Early Start Kindergarten information for professionalswebpage.
Services are encouraged to discuss the benefits of early childhood education with families and enrol eligible children in ESK and Pre-Prep so they can benefit from more hours of kindergarten. Enrolling eligible children in ESK also helps with planning for the delivery of Pre-Prep to eligible children the following year.
Uniting Vic Tas is hosting on online workshop for parents on understanding your child’s behaviour and emotional development. Explore how the brain grows, why big feelings can take over and how parents can respond in calm and helpful ways. August 20th at 6:30pm, see flyer to register.
New data from the latest Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) indicates that close to half of children entering school in 2024 were developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains.
The census data was collected from 16,723 teachers and more than 288,000 children across 7,368 Australian schools. It found that only 52.9% of children in this age-bracket are on track to meet key developmental milestones by the time they start school, with the remainder falling behind.
Children with a background other than English, children in remote and rural areas, and children experiencing poverty experienced greater developmental vulnerability, while the percentage of First Nations children developmentally on track also experienced a decline.
New data from the latest Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) indicates that close to half of children entering school in 2024 were developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains. The census data […]
This overview summaries key budget measures relevant to child and family services and to the children, young people and
families supported by member organisations
10 May is Are You Safe at Home? Day. It’s an opportunity to ask someone in your life, ‘are you safe at home?’ This year, start a conversation to end family violence.
Follow the link to check out all the great resources before the day arrives.