Where to next? Reflections on best practice in early childhood intervention
What the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention (2025) looks like in everyday practice at KEO Care
When the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention was released in late 2025, I had two immediate reactions. The first was a genuine sense of optimism about where the sector is heading. The second was a quieter, but equally important, realisation. Much of what the framework describes as best practice is already happening in ECI services like ours every day.
Through the consultative process to develop the framework, I had the opportunity to engage closely with the intent behind the framework. What stood out to me was not a push to reinvent ECI, but an invitation to reflect critically on our practice, to strengthen consistency, and to be clearer about why and how we do what we do.
A Framework for Reflection, Not Reinvention
At KEO, this has felt both affirming and challenging in the best possible way. Many of the framework’s core principles, including rights-based, relationships-based, strengths-based and ecologically informed practice, align strongly with how our therapists already work with children and families. Family outcomes, community participation and capacity building are not new concepts for us. They are embedded in how we think about meaningful change and long-term impact.
Using the Framework as a Lens for Quality Improvement
At the same time, the framework asks us to look closely at where we can do better. Quality improvement is central to our approach at KEO. Rather than treating the framework as a checklist, we are using it as a lens for critical reflection: what are we doing well, where are the gaps, and what needs strengthening next?
Strengthening Culturally Responsive and Diversity-Affirming Practice
One area, that aligned with the work we are already doing was a focus on strengthening culturally responsive practice. KEO has an ongoing commitment to ensuring cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, reflected in our work to develop our Reconciliation Action Plan and broader organisational priorities. The framework reinforces the importance of cultural safety as a core element of best practice, not an optional consideration. This has prompted deeper reflection on how culture, identity and family context are consistently understood, respected and embedded in therapy planning and decision making, not just acknowledged.
Another key area of growth is our continued focus on diversity affirming practice. This includes supporting a diversity of neurotypes, family structures, identities and lived experiences. The framework provides language and structure that supports us to be more intentional in how we affirm difference, challenge assumptions, and ensure our practice adapts to families, rather than expecting families to adapt to systems.
Deepening Community Connection and Inclusion
The framework also places stronger emphasis on community connection, which aligns closely with where KEO is heading next. Strengthening relationships with early childhood education and care settings and schools is a key priority. By working more closely with educators on the ground, we can better support inclusive environments, embed strategies into everyday settings, and strengthen shared responsibility for participation and belonging.
How the Framework Maps to Our Everyday Practice
In practice, much of this work is supported by the Decision-Making Guide (which I highly recommend all therapists read!). When mapped against KEO’s existing processes, the alignment is clear. From intake and onboarding, through information gathering, support planning, intervention, review and transition, the framework mirrors the natural flow of our ECI practice. What it adds is a shared structure that supports consistency, reflection and clearer articulation of clinical reasoning.
Building Practice Together: Our Team Approach
Importantly, this work is not happening in isolation. At KEO, we are actively working with our teams to ask, where to next? Supervision, clinical huddles and internal training are being used to brainstorm, question and refine practice together. Therapists are being supported to think critically about evidence, outcomes, feasibility for families, and how recommendations are framed and justified.
Contributing to the Broader Sector
Beyond our own service, KEO continues to contribute to the broader sector through ongoing collaboration with PRECI and Monash University students to see ECI practice in action. These partnerships support the development of resources that remain grounded in the realities of working alongside children and families. Last year’s students developed a podcast focusing on strengths-based practice which I had the honour of being a guest speaker for.
For me, the National Best Practice Framework represents an opportunity for honest reflection. It allows us to celebrate the strong practice that already exists at KEO, while also naming the work still to be done. By keeping quality improvement at the centre, we can ensure best practice is not static, but something we continue to build, refine and embed in everyday practice to support children and families to thrive.
About the author
Markos is a Clinical Excellence Lead at KEO Care with over 11 years of experience spanning paediatrics and holistic mental health. He brings a grounded, whole-person lens to his work, integrating somatic and emotional approaches to support not just clients but also the clinicians delivering it.
Markos is driven by a belief that great care starts from within supportive communities. He’s deeply invested in clinician growth and lifelong learning, helping practitioners build careers that are meaningful, sustainable, and genuinely enjoyable, because when clinicians thrive, so do the people they work with.
