CaFHS Services Overview

The Child and Family Health Service (CaFHS) offers a range of support for infants, children and families living in South Australia.
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The Child and Family Health Service (CaFHS) supports families in South Australia with children aged 0–5 years by responding early in life to children’s health, development, and wellbeing needs. The child is at the centre of all decision making and intensive support is offered to those with greater need.
CaFHS work with families for the best health and development outcomes for children, and staff will refer families to other healthcare and community services as required.
Child health, development and emotional wellbeing
Promoting optimal child health, development and emotional wellbeing for infants and children is the foundation of CaFHS services. Clinical staff work with families in the areas below:
- growth and developmental health checks
- nutrition
- vision
- child safety
- hearing
- sleep
- breastfeeding
- feeding
- infant mental health
- dental developmental screening and promotion.
Relationships
Nurturing and stable relationships with adults who are caring are essential for healthy human development and influence all aspects of development. CaFHS staff work with families in the context of:
- child-caregiver relationships
- parental relationships
- extended family and kinship relationships
- identifying and responding to traumatic relationships.
Caregiver wellbeing and parenting
Providing a nurturing environment for children can be a demanding job which requires a lot of physical and emotional energy. Caregiver wellbeing is therefore critical for children's wellbeing. Staff support caregivers through their work in the following areas:
- promoting a nurturing family environment
- settling
- parenting together
- supporting child behaviour
- caregiver mental and emotional health
- caregiver physical health
- parenting practices.