Department of Health

Children, youth and families

Community health services (CHSs) in Victoria offer allied health and support services to children and their families. They aim to promote children's positive development, address child health and developmental problems early, and help parents be part of their child's early learning and development.

Services typically provided to children and families include: care coordination, dietetics, family counselling, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry, occupational therapy and speech pathology. They are available as a single service or as part of a group program.

CHSs also run health promotion activities that target children and their families.

A number of specific programs are funded to ensure that services are more appropriate and accessible to different population groups, including:

  • Child Health Teams
  • Innovative Health Services for Homeless Youth (IHSHY)
  • Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies

Child health services: Guidelines for the community health program

These child health guidelines set out what is expected of child health services provided through the Community Health Program.

These guidelines complement the overarching Community Health Integrated Program (CHIP) guidelines which aim to improve consistency across the state in planning, program design and service delivery, and to clarify expectations for coordinated service provision. The documents are designed to be used in conjunction with each other, and with other key documents outlining the range of responsibilities and requirements of funded organisations.

Child health teams

Victoria has 12 child health teams who work with children who have mild to moderate developmental difficulties and behavioural issues.

Young people who are homeless or at risk

The Innovative Health Services for Homeless Youth (IHSHY) program promotes health care for young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies

The Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Program addresses maternal risk behaviours and provides women with support during their pregnancy.

Reviewed 28 May 2015

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