STARS for Kids Research Enters Next Phase of Development, Right Here At First Steps Count
August 2026 • Families in the Manning Valley and Great Lakes region are being invited to participate in the next phase of a national research project that could reshape how child and family health services are delivered in regional Australia.
The STARS for Kids Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) — a National Health and Medical Research Council-funded collaboration led by University of NSW — has entered a new phase, with researchers now actively recruiting participants to trial a proposed model of continuing care that leverages technology, local service navigation, and integrated Child and Family Hubs to support families through the critical first years of a child's life.
First Steps Count Child and Family Hub in Taree is one of three national demonstration sites for the STARS partnership, alongside a multicultural community in Fairfield, South Western Sydney, and a community in Wanneroo, Western Australia.
The STARS program — Strengths-based, Tiered, Accessible Resources and Supports — aims to identify, link and navigate families to the right services at the right place and time. At its centre is the Watch Me Grow-Electronic (WMG-E) platform, a digital 'front door' that screens for a child's developmental needs alongside parental mental health and psychosocial needs. Based on individual responses, families receive tiered support:
from anticipatory guidance and health literacy (Tier 1),
through to targeted services (Tier 2), and
specialised supports including complex psychosocial care navigated through place-based Child and Family Hubs (Tier 3).
The next phase of research will follow families through this model of continuing care — from when their child is 6 months old through to 3 years of age — testing the benefit of localised, integrated, continuity of care in real-world settings.
Director of First Steps Count Child and Family Hub, Clare Brennan, said the research reflects the Hub's core vision for how child and family health could be managed in regional and rural communities.
“This research moves us closer to a future where support for families is supported through technology, made local through familiar faces and trusted places, and made sustainable throughout the developmental years of the child.
It’s about wrapping supports around the whole family — not just for a single appointment or a single concern, but across the critical first 2,000 days and beyond.”
The STARS for Kids program was initiated in Taree in response to the Mid Coast 4 Kids investigation into the significant number of children identified as developmentally vulnerable when starting school.
The project is co-designed with consumers and the community, with particular engagement with local Aboriginal community leaders to ensure cultural safety and relevance.
The research partnership brings together NSW Government, The University of Sydney, UNSW Sydney and Western Sydney University, as part of Maridulu Budyari Gumal (SPHERE) — the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise.
The research team are recruiting across2 key age groups:
Media Enquiries:
Clare Brennan, Director
clare.brennan@firststepscount.org
