Research & Advocacy
RFW has a critical role to play in connecting country children to the standard of health and wellbeing they’re entitled to, regardless of where they live.
The work we do in advocacy, supported by a strong evidence base, intends to raise the volume and reinforce the rigour of conversations around childhood vulnerability in Australia. Our aim is to positively influence policy and inform the direction of child health and wellbeing, system wide.
Take a look at our Research and Advocacy articles & position statements.
Urgent Call for Increased Investment in Rural Health
RFW calls for research, focus and investment for our country children
Response to the Early Years Stategy
Our publications
- Productivity Commission Inquiry into Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector
- IPART Review of Early Childhood Education and Care
- Royal Far West Response to Early Years Strategy 2023
- 2022 Flood Response and Recovery - Children’s Needs Assessment
- Royal Far West and Narromine Public School: Working together to improve outcomes for country children
- Early learning, intervention and screening in rural and remote areas: A final report on the Healthy Kids Bus Stop
- Bushfire Recovery - The Children’s Voices (produced by Royal Far West and UNICEF Australia)
- After the Disaster: Recovery for Australia's Children (produced by Royal Far West and UNICEF Australia)
- Beyond the black stump: rapid reviews of health research issues affecting regional, rural and remote Australia (conducted by Spinifex)
- Bushfire Recovery Program Evaluation (conducted by Charles Sturt University)
- Response to the NSW Government independent expert inquiry into the 2019-20 bushfire season
- Manly Pop-Up Safe House
- The Invisible Children: the state of country children's health and development in Australia
- Stories of The Invisible Children
- Reporting the health and development of children in rural and remote Australia
- Lived Experiences White Paper - T Cumming, CSU
- Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee's Inquiry into GP Access in Rural Areas
- Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Effective Approaches to Prevention, Diagnosis and support for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
- Submission for Inquiry into Health Outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote NSW
- Submission on Inquiry into Education in Remote and Complex Environments by the House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training

42% of indigenous children are vulnerable in one or more developmental domain
Advocacy agenda
We believe that all children have the fundamental human right to a high standard of health and wellbeing, regardless of where they live.
We recognise the important role we can play in giving country children a voice. Our intention is to raise the level of conversation around childhood vulnerability in Australia, to positively influence policy and to inform system-wide direction in rural and remote child health and wellbeing.
Our advocacy platform includes: a national target to reduce developmental vulnerability in rural and remote Australia from 22% to 1o% by 2025; increasing investment in early identification and intervention; funding and scaling of innovation service models; telecare capacity building and support; and increasing use of telecare models.
Research priorities
Our internal research team works closely with a variety of research partners to build a strong evidence base on children’s developmental health, particularly in rural and remote areas, and demonstrate the impact of targeted interventions in community settings and via telecare.
Our evidence base feeds directly into our program development, and is shared to create systems-change through conference presentations, policy statements, submissions to government, publications, and via our media partners.
Community engagement
We are working alongside our friends in many country communities to tackle the complex challenges they face, so that all children can have the greatest opportunity to reach their full potential.
In order to empower country communities to advocate for change locally, we have formed partnerships with local organisations, media, schools, health services and volunteers. We utilise the passion of our community champions and ambassadors to fundraise locally, and hold town-hall meetings to increase local awareness of childhood developmental vulnerability.
Contact us
If you would like to learn more about our advocacy platform, or partner with us, please contact our Head of Advocacy and Government Relations Jenny Stevenson.
Jenny Stevenson
jennys@royalfarwest.org.au
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