Preparing children for school
About the Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters
The Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) is a parenting and early childhood program that builds the skills of parents and carers to better prepare their child for school. It also offers some parents and carers a path to work and local community leadership.
Families enrol in the program when their child turns 3 years old. They participate for up to 2 years leading up to full-time formal schooling.
Each program location is staffed by a qualified coordinator and a team of home tutors. Tutors are often past or current parents who participate in the program and live in the community. The program has been delivered in 100 communities across Australia. It targets around 4,000 children each year. Around 50 of these locations focus on First Nation communities.
The program is funded by the Australian Government and delivered by Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) in partnership with around 65 organisations across Australia.
First Nations involvement
The Stronger Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCO) Stronger Families Part 2 project strengthens partnerships between ACCOs and non-Indigenous organisations.
Learn more about the Stronger Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCO) Stronger Families Part 2 project.
Operational guidelines
The operational guidelines help providers work in a consistent, coordinated and cooperative way.
The guidelines explain how to deliver services and provides answers to common questions. The guidelines also provide information about how to report critical incidents.
Read the Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters Operational Guidelines (2022–2027).
Evaluation of the program
We commissioned independent evaluations of HIPPY over 2023–24 and 2025–26.
Impact evaluation
The Australian Centre for Evaluation undertook an impact evaluation. It focused on the outcomes for children and families, including school readiness and parental confidence.
Read the Impact evaluation of the Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters.
Process evaluations
The Parenting Research Centre conducted 2 process evaluations over 2024 and 2025:
- An analysis of effectiveness and efficiency. This focused on:
- HIPPY program outcomes
- value for money
- comparative performance against similar early childhood programs in Australia.
- An analysis of appropriateness and implementation. This focused on:
- who receives help from HIPPY
- accessibility and inclusiveness for priority groups
- implementation
- the impact of recent program reforms on families and children.
Read the Stream 1 report (effectiveness and efficiency analysis).
Read the Stream 2 report (appropriateness and implementation analysis).
Synthesis report
The Australian Centre for Evaluation completed a synthesis report. This looked at the 12 evaluations of the program since it started. It focused on linking the most recent and prior evaluations and research.
It examined HIPPY’s:
- appropriateness
- implementation
- impacts
- cost-effectiveness
- achievement of short-, medium- and long-term outcomes.