Adelaide's north is one of South Australia’s fastest growing areas for families. But it includes pockets of intergenerational disadvantage. A group of youth organisations, schools and childcare centres has received State Government backing to work together to improve outcomes for children growing up there.
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00:00Nika Hilditch's children have special needs, but they often have to wait more than a year
00:07to see specialist doctors.
00:09It can be particularly draining, very challenging, you feel like you're very alone in the sense
00:14that you can't get support when you need it.
00:16With the help of a nurse employed at Davern Park School, Ms Hilditch's children have started
00:21to receive more timely support.
00:23The nurses here have been able to pinpoint the areas that my children need support in
00:28and then make those referrals for me.
00:30Her family's story is commonly shared across Adelaide's north.
00:34The nursing service is one of several new initiatives aimed at improving the lives of
00:38children in Davern Park.
00:40About half of South Australian children who are considered developmentally vulnerable
00:45live in and around the area.
00:47The reality is that poverty is one of the greatest issues that we deal with out here.
00:52Clare Dilloway from the local youth organisation says alongside the nurses there are now regular
00:57community barbecues and an after school kids club.
01:00What we're just starting to see is the positive impact which is the community members, the
01:07individuals here in the community coming to join us to say this is what we want to see
01:12differently.
01:13We're trying to do things differently and we're trying to do them as a group and lean
01:19on each other and work with each other.
01:21The community will receive more than $4 million over four years from the SA government as
01:26part of its new Children in the North project.
01:29There is a genuine appetite to take a few risks here and innovate.
01:32I don't think we should fear failure because we've already seen evidence of that so we're
01:36just going to try something different.
01:38We want the story to be that the community says it's a better place to live, there are
01:42more things for our kids to do, our kids are happier going to school.
01:47An ambition to change children's lives one suburb at a time.
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