Building a Monitoring System
About the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System
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The Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System (VCAMS) provides a comprehensive overview of the way in which the service system, the community and the family all interact to determine the wellbeing of children, and provides a sound basis for government planning and intervention.
The Victorian Government is committed to ensuring that children are given a higher priority across all government policies, programs and activities to safeguard and improve their safety, health, development, learning and wellbeing. In 2005, Victorian Government Departments endorsed 35 outcomes for Victoria’s children which are known to be of most importance to their present and future lives, see the VCAMS Framework (PDF - 348Kb).
VCAMS has been established to support government and community action by systematically monitoring how children are faring from birth to adulthood in these 35 areas.
Through the Children’s Services Coordination Board, Victorian Government Departments endorsed 150 VCAMS indicators (PDF - 95Kb) that show how children are faring in the 35 outcome areas and how this is changing over time. For more information, see: Children’s Services Coordination Board
Some of this data is from the Department’s programs and operations, but other information needs to be separately sought from public surveys. Although data is not yet available on some important areas, an increasing amount is being made available to state and local government. For more information, see Gathering New Data and Reporting on How Children and Young People are Faring.
This monitoring system is designed to facilitate more informed decision making across government resulting in more effective setting of priorities and more efficient allocation of resources. Data from VCAMS can also enable government to judge whether programs and policies are making a difference for Victorian children and families. To further maximise its potential, to improve outcomes for children through facilitating data driven and evidence-based planning and policy, and to ensure that reporting requirements can be met in a more systematic and efficient manner, further development of the VCAMS IT information delivery platform is currently underway.
Child Outcomes Bulletins
Child Outcomes is a series of bulletins on how Victoria’s children and adolescents are faring. The bulletins are written for professionals and researchers across health, education, community services and government. Each issue will explore aspects of children’s safety, health, development, learning and wellbeing, particularly where new information and data are available.
- Child Outcomes Bulletin Issue 1 (PDF - 297Kb) - A series of bulletins on how Victoria’s children and adolescents are faring
- Child Outcomes Bulletin Issue 2 (PDF - 966Kb) - VCAMS – the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System
- Child Outcomes Bulletin Issue 3 (PDF - 458Kb) - Alcohol and smoking in pregnancy: key findings from the 2009 Victorian Child Health and Wellbeing Survey
- Child Outcomes Bulletin Issue 4 (PDF - 1.1Mb) - Maintaining a healthy body weight: risk factors for obesity in Victorian Children (please note: amendment to footnote 2, 15/09/2010 : amendment to figure 1 legend and figure 1 and 2 sources, 27/09/2010)
To receive email notification of new bulletins, please subscribe by emailing your full name and email address to child.outcomes@edumail.vic.gov.au