Growing Future Elders: Danila Dilba Health Service Child and Family Model of Care
Danila Dilba Health Service
Who funded the project
Karabena Consulting and First 1000 Days Australia worked with Danila Dilba Health Service (DDHS) to develop Growing Future Elders: Child and Family Model of Care. The model guides the redesign of child and family services across DDHS and brings existing services into a clearer life-course pathway.
The project responded to consultation findings that described families moving between services with limited continuity across midwifery, clinics, child health, family support, social and emotional wellbeing, men’s health, youth services, developmental pathways and external systems. The model is organised around the life of the child and the people who hold responsibility around them.
The final model sets out a culturally grounded, family-centred pathway from preconception through pregnancy, the first 1,000 days, early childhood, childhood and adolescence. It focuses on continuity, cultural safety, Aboriginal leadership, coordinated care and practical implementation.
Summary
Develop a comprehensive and culturally grounded child and family model of care for DDHS.
Strengthen continuity from preconception through pregnancy, the first 1,000 days, childhood and adolescence.
Connect midwifery, child health, paediatrics, Aboriginal Family Partnership Program activity, family support, social and emotional wellbeing, men’s health, youth health and primary healthcare within one coordinated pathway.
Reduce the burden on families to repeat their story, coordinate referrals or hold disconnected parts of the service system together.
Make family relationships, kinship roles, carers, cultural responsibilities, fathering support and male carer engagement more visible in intake, care planning and service coordination.
Provide DDHS with practical implementation direction, workforce guidance and service architecture for future redesign.
Project Aims
Project initiation and governance with DDHS leaders, program leads, clinicians and cultural workforce members.
Review of DDHS child, maternal and family health documentation, AFPP redesign requirements, NT health and child wellbeing frameworks, and relevant service information.
System mapping of current service flows across midwifery, child health, family support, paediatrics and related pathways up to age 18.
Analysis of service gaps, duplication, handover risks, missed connection points and cultural safety issues.
Culturally safe consultation and co-design with families, staff and partner organisations across the Darwin child and family sector.
Staff workshops and design discussions with midwifery, child health, primary care, family support, developmental, social and emotional wellbeing and Aboriginal health roles.
Life-course modelling from preconception through adolescence, with universal, targeted and complex streams of care.
Drafting, visual pathway development, validation and refinement with DDHS leadership and relevant stakeholders.
Methodologies
Outputs
Final Growing Future Elders: Danila Dilba Health Service Child and Family Model of Care.
Life-course framework from preconception and family readiness through adolescence and transition into adulthood.
Service architecture showing universal, targeted and complex streams of care.
Pathway guidance for entry, shared intake, cultural intake, coordinated assessment, care planning, case conferencing and follow-up.
Workforce and integrated practice guidance, including Aboriginal workforce leadership, relational practice, fathering support, male carer engagement and interagency collaboration.
Data, continuous quality improvement and governance direction, including consent-based and culturally safe information sharing.
Implementation direction for staged change, workforce engagement, partnership development, Communicare improvements and stronger referral loops.
Visual diagrams and summary materials to support internal communication, implementation planning and handover.
DDHS now has a clear architecture for redesigning child and family services around the life of the child and the family, kinship and community systems around them.
The model creates an earlier entry point through preconception care and maintains connection across pregnancy, the first 1,000 days, childhood and adolescence.
The work strengthens a no wrong door approach, so families can enter support through any part of DDHS without needing to understand internal program structures.
Shared intake, cultural intake, coordinated assessment, care planning and case conferencing provide a practical foundation for reducing fragmentation and duplication.
Universal, targeted and complex streams give DDHS a shared language for matching support to changing family circumstances over time.
The model strengthens cultural safety by placing family-centred practice, Aboriginal leadership, kinship systems, cultural authority and service accountability inside everyday care.
The implementation direction supports workforce development, data improvement, stronger referral loops, Communicare updates and future service redesign.
Project Outcomes
Danila Dilba Health Service; Growing Future Elders; Aboriginal child and family health; maternal and child health; First 1000 Days; ACCHO; cultural safety; life-course model of care; continuity of care; Aboriginal workforce leadership