ARACY helps children achieve a better life.

We focus on prevention, heading off problems before they arise.

We do this by discovering and spreading news on what research tells us are the best practical ways to overcome disadvantage early and set children on a positive future path. We bring together researchers, policy makers in government, people delivering services, children and youth to learn from each other.

They have all told us that what matters most are: love and safety; meeting material needs like food, clothing and housing; health; learning; a chance to participate in decision making; and pride in culture and identity.

We work on these through a national action plan called The Nest.

This ARACY Engagement Hub allows collaboration on a range of projects – including Great to Eight, a research agenda that represents a genuinely nation building project with the potential to positively influence Australia’s investment in early childhood research on a grand scale, and a similarly ambitious National Early Years Collaboration that seeks to build and gain adoption for a national blueprint to improve the lives of Australia's children in their first 1000 days.

Current Opportunities to Get Involved

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National Early Years Collaboration Current Status :

When children have what they need to develop well in the early years, it sets them up for good physical and mental health now and throughout their lives. We’re defining the ‘early years’ as from the perinatal period to before children start formal schooling. Our babies and toddlers are without agency; the quietest Australians. Even before the specific challenges that 2020 has seen so far, too many of our youngest children and their families have not been given the chance to ach...

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Great to Eight Current Status :

Children thrive when their needs are met by supported families, carers and communities. We know that the early years (0-8) are a time of tremendous growth and development for children. We also know there are both risk factors and protective factors that affect how a child develops, and that these can be influenced to give a child the best chances in life. One in five of Australia’s children starts school developmentally vulnerable in one or more areas1. And without intervention, these chil...

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