Griffith mum Angela Lewis knows how it feels not to have access to early childhood education.
When she returned from maternity leave, the mum-of-four found her spot in a childcare centre in the regional New South Wales town was no longer available.
"I was in absolute tears because I didn't have a spot, and it was only through sheer luck that a space became available for my youngest," she said.
A new review, released by the federal government, shows just how critical the emotional and educational experiences of her youngest, three-year-old Ari, will be to his future.
Indeed the Murdoch Children's Research Institute conducted a review of global early childhood research and found investing in children's early years still reaped rewards decades later.
The assistance included education, and support for families to raise young children.
The review highlighted a US study showing government investment in early childhood education and care recoups more than $40,000 USD in prevented costs by the time a child turns 40.
"The benefits are experienced both by individuals as well as by governments … [and] take different forms, including increased government revenue as well as decreased government expenditure, the report said.
"After the initial period in which costs outweigh the economic benefits, the benefits begin to outweigh the costs and accrue indefinitely.
In Australia, a 2019 study found intervening later than early childhood cost governments more than $15 billion per year, or $2,000 for every child in the country.
That's because investing in early childhood offers preventative savings, especially when it comes to disadvantaged families.
The research found this investment means governments don't have to spend money to solve problems like child protection, youth crime and youth unemployment later on.
Like building a house
Institute spokesperson Professor Sharon Goldfeld said the findings reflected how "developmentally plastic" a child's brain is when they are young.
"The way children develop is like a layering approach," she said.
"If you can imagine the building of a house, you want to get the foundations right because everything that you build on top of that will rely on how good those foundations are.
"You can go back and fix those other things later, but they're never as good as they would be if we got it right in the first place."
The research also found evidence that the first three years of a child's life, far before many students even interact with early learning, are when the best foundations can be build.
"There is a strong case for starting earlier than three years to provide support for early parenting and family functioning," the report said.
"All of this occurs well before the three and four year-old programs start, and raises questions about what forms of support should be provided families during these crucial early years."
Professor Goldfeld said investment in supporting parents from conception, rather than waiting until children came to childcare or preschool, was key.
"We call this the kind of ecology of childhood.
"What does the child need, what does the family need, and what is a community need for children to succeed and to thrive?"
The research analysed a Tasmanian intervention program which supported disadvantaged families to enable their children to attend child care from aged three to four.
Researchers found while support to attend early childhood education would have benefited the children, children's family environment had even more impact.
"Child outcomes are strongly shaped by the social and material conditions under which families are raising their children, and the Play2Learn+ program does not directly address these conditions," the report said.
Nonetheless evidence shows early childhood education does make a huge difference, and the most to students facing disadvantage.
"There is consistent evidence … that although quality preschool education can benefit middle-class children, disadvantaged children benefit the most."
Multiple studies show the longer a child spends in preschool, the greater the benefits, but that the program must be high quality.
Advantages according to a study that followed children into middle age show early childhood education "improves health and healthy behaviours, increases labour income, and reduces crime and the cost to the criminal justice system".
Inequalities become evident at school
Angela Lewis said she saw this in her older children's classrooms.
"You can see once they get to primary school, the kids that have had that early learning and those that haven't and I do believe it impacts on the classrooms.
"You know, more attention is spent on the children that haven't had that early learning."
She said more needed to be done to support those who could not afford it.
"There are a lot of people who just can't access childcare or they can't afford it because it is prohibitively expensive."
Professor Sharon Goldfeld agreed.
"Inequalities-wise, Australia is not going so well, and for our kids we really do have fairly unequal outcomes and we have particularly unequal educational outcomes for children".
Indeed recent national NAPLAN data showed the gap between students starting school developmentally vulnerable and their peers continued to grow.
However Professor Goldfeld said she was hopeful things would improve, as state and federal governments made early learning a priority.
"I do have a sense of optimism when I look around the states and territories, all of them, and their appetite for thinking about early childhood, and we look at the federal government's appetite around this at the moment with the early years strategy being mooted."
Indeed, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the institute's research would inform the new Early Years national strategy being developed by the government.
"We shouldn't be going with just gut feel, we need to be evidence driven.
"What this research really demonstrates is that investment does make a difference and that that investment continues to benefit children well beyond the initial investment."
The government will hold an Early Years Summit gathering stakeholders to help devise the new plan early next year, with the government's increase to the childcare subsidy payments to come into effect by July 2023.
