First Steps Count Hosts National Research Collaboration Day
Wednesday, 15 July 2026 • First Steps Count proudly hosted the STARS for Kids Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) Day, bringing together researchers, practitioners, service providers, and community partners from across Australia to our Hub in Taree.
Director Clare Brennan welcoming guests to our stunning building.
STARS for Kids — which stands for Strengths-based, Tiered, Accessible Resources and Supports — is a funded collaboration led by the University of New South Wales. The partnership is focused on improving outcomes for children and families during the critical first 2,000 days of life by ensuring families can access the right support, at the right time, in the right way.
The collaboration was initiated right here in Taree, in response to the Mid Coast 4 Kids investigation into the significant number of children identified as developmentally vulnerable when starting school. Taree now serves as one of the national demonstration and learning sites within the STARS partnership — offering a unique opportunity to explore how research, community leadership, service systems, and lived experience can come together to improve child and family wellbeing.
The day featured an Acknowledgement to Country from Alunya Wilkinson, an opening address by Tanya Thompson MP, and a welcoming address from Professor Valsa Eapen, Director of STARS-CRE. Our Director Clare Brennan also provided a tour of the First Steps Count Child and Family Hub for visiting participants from as far away as Western Australia.
Throughout the day, the CRE Day showcased work underway across the national partnership, exploring themes emerging from the research project across the three sites (Taree, Carramar and Western Australia), early childhood development and wellbeing, service navigation and integrated support models, co-design and community participation, and strategies for translating research into policy and practice. FSC based research facilitators Sophie Nicholls and Amy Wallace facilitated a panel with representatives from Ngarra Wakulda, the Aboriginal advisory group providing cultural guidance to the STARS for Kids project on Biripi country.
Hosting this event at First Steps Count reinforces our region's growing recognition as a national learning and innovation site — and affirms that regional communities have a vital role to play in shaping the research and policy that affects families everywhere.
Media Enquiries:
Clare Brennan, Director
clare.brennan@firststepscount.org
