YCDCo Contributes $10,000 To Intergenerational Childcare Program
YCDCo contributed $10,000 to establishing the Little Yacks Childcare centre as an intergenerational Childcare model co-located within Yackandandah Health’s Aged Care facilities.
Specifically, this grant is or the childcare services to be established as part of Yackandandah Health’s operations.
A group of 28 parents with children requiring childcare services are actively working with YH to establish a new childcare service. Our initiative is called “Growing Wise” to reflect some of the benefits of creating a care model that brings together the youngest and oldest members of our community.
YH have offered an existing hospital wing to be refurbished to meet the requirements of the National Education and Care regulations. This childcare facility will be seen as an interim facility in preparation for a new facility to be built as part of phase 2 of YHs overall infrastructure development. It is estimated this interim childcare facility will be required for up to three years.
Intergenerational Programs (IP), often interchanged with Intergenerational Practice, describe a community service that combines Aged Care and Child Care in the one facility. IPs aims to bring people together in purposeful, mutually beneficial activities which promote greater understanding and respect between generations and contributes to building more cohesive communities. IPs are inclusive, building on the positive resources that the young and old have to offer each other and those around them.
Intergenerational Learning (IL) is the way that people of all ages can learn together and from one another while fostering reciprocal learning relationships across generations and helps to develop social capital and social cohesion in our ageing societies.
The resource guide published by Kids Interacting with The Elderly (KITE) has also confirmed that IPs are emerging as one response to the age segregation that is increasingly occurring in our society. With fewer people living close to or with relatives, financial pressures demanding that both parents work, more children being cared for in childcare settings and elderly relatives moving into care facilities, the opportunities for the young and the old to have meaningful contact has decreased significantly. IPs reverse this trend by encouraging interactions amongst different age groups.
In Australia, there are already many informal interactions between the elders, in nursing homes and children, through visits organised from local schools and Play Groups running within Residential Aged Care facilities. These informal interactions are already established and tested in Yackandandah, with visits to the aged care facility from children from the Yackandandah Kindergarten already routinely occurring. However, Yackandandah is a growing community that is in immediate need of quality, community run Intergenerational Programs (IP) within its Aged Care and Early Childhood services so that vulnerable community members can immediately benefit from Intergenerational Learning (IL).
Benefits
The IP model brings together the generations to exchange skills, values and knowledge and to build on the concept of extended family, leading to improved social cohesion in Australian society. Implementing IPs into Early Childhood Services fits within the nationally recognised Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) for Australia. IP enhances the quality pedagogical practices outlined within the EYLF, underpinning Belonging, Being and Becoming.
Belonging - children need to feel like they belong; to their family, neighbourhood, culture and within their wider community. IPs enables children to develop relationships with community members who are diverse in ages, skills, knowledge, culture and abilities.
Being - recognises the significance of the here and now: a time for children to make meaning of the world around them. IPs supports children to explore, experiment, question and hypothesize, by providing children with additional adult one on one time. Research shows that children learn from supportive relationships that share in the life joys of childhood.
Becoming - Children are shaped by their life experiences. IPs provides children with the opportunity to maximise their potential and future success for themselves and for the nation. There is much conclusive international evidence that early childhood is a vital period in children's learning and development.
Outcomes
The following outcomes are the main areas in which IPs will have the most obvious impact:
Outcome 3.4 - Emotional support, which states that, "Each care recipient receives support in adjusting to life in the new environment and on an ongoing basis"
Outcome 3.7- Leisure interests and activities, which states, "Care recipients are encouraged and supported to participate in a wide range of interests and activities of interest to them".
However, there are many of the other 44 Outcomes that can also be positively impacted through the practice of lntergenerational Programs, such as:
Outcome 2.7 - Medication management - it would be interesting to further research whether IPs decrease the requirement for antidepressants among the elderly clients
Outcome 2.13 - Behavioural management - research through ONE generation in Los Angeles, USA, showed IPs have benefits for elders with Alzheimer's and dementia in affect and mood, showing that from daily 30-minute IP activities, they remained happier for 30 minutes and longer
Outcome 2.14 - Mobility, dexterity and rehabilitation - the IPs promote optimal physical activity for the elders, therefore promoting and assisting with ongoing rehabilitation
Outcome 2.16 - Sensory loss - in which IPs may effectively manage to stimulate the senses of the elders
Outcome 2.17 - Sleep - in which the stimulation and physical activity throughout the day will promote natural sleep patterns.
In Australia, there are already many informal interactions between the elders, in nursing homes and children, through visits organised from local schools and Play Groups running within Residential Aged Care facilities. These informal interactions are already established and tested in Yackandandah, with visits to the aged care facility from children from the Yackandandah Kindergarten already routinely occurring. However, Yackandandah is a growing community that is in immediate need of quality, community run Intergenerational Programs within its Aged Care and Early Childhood services so that vulnerable community members can immediately benefit from Intergenerational Leaming.
An Intergenerational care model is relatively new to Australia; however, it is well established in Europe. The model that YH are proposing to adopt will be the first of its kind in Australia.
Total Cost
$75,654
YCDCo Contribution
$10,000