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Appendix ABackground to the studyCommencing in 2008, Footprints in Time data hasbeen collected on an annual basis from around 1500Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and theirfamilies. Footprints in Time employs an accelerated crosssequentialdesign, involving two cohorts of Indigenouschildren with a target age from 6 months to 2 years (Bcohort) and from 3 years, 6 months to 5 years (K cohort) atthe time of wave 1 collection. The design allows the datacovering the first nine or 10 years of Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander children’s lives to be collected in six years.The two-cohort design also facilitates the comparison ofthe cohorts when their ages overlap in order to detectany changes due to different social conditions andpolicy initiatives.Eleven sites are included in the study, which span all statesand territories except the Australian Capital Territory andTasmania. Of the sites, three are considered primarilyurban (Adelaide, Brisbane and Western Sydney), four areconsidered primarily regional (Darwin, Dubbo, Sheppartonand the New South Wales South Coast) and four areconsidered primarily remote (Alice Springs, the KimberlyRegion, Mount Isa and the Torres Strait). The sample is notmeant to be representative of the Australian Indigenouspopulation and conclusions should not be extended tothe whole population. The fieldwork was conducted byFaHCSIA’s Research Administration Officers (RAOs) whoare all Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.The survey is designed so that each child in the study istracked and interviewed during each wave. However, theother participants interviewed may change dependingon family and situational relationships. Interviews areconducted with the person who has the primary careof the child at the time. Teachers and centre-basedcarers may also answer questionnaires about the child,themselves and their school or centre.ObjectiveThe main objective of the study is to provide high qualityquantitative and qualitative data that can be used toprovide a better insight into how Indigenous children’searly years affect their development. It is hoped thatthis information can be drawn upon to help close thegap in life circumstances between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.Footprints in Time has four key research questions,formulated under the guidance of the SteeringCommittee, which were designed to achieve thisobjective. These are:• What do Indigenous children need to have the beststart in life to grow up strong?• What helps Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander childrento stay on track or get them back on track to becomehealthier, more positive and strong?• How are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderchildren raised?• What is the importance of family, extended familyand community in the early years of life and whengrowing up?Also of interest is the role that service use and support playsin the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children:• How can services and other types of support makea difference to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander children?The study provides information for individuals, families,communities, service providers, researchers andgovernments to design and implement culturallyappropriate policies and programs to improve outcomesfor Indigenous children.Topics coveredAs a longitudinal study, a large number of questions inFootprints in Time are asked in every wave. Answers to thesame questions from the same people over time can tellus about persistence and recurrence (for example, howlong people remain poor, unemployed or receive incomesupport), relationships (for example, the impact of life eventson health) and outcomes. This kind of data allows us towatch a ’film’ of people’s lives rather than look at a singlephotograph. A photograph only tells the story of a point intime, not what happened before or after.As Footprints in Time follows children, it is also important tocapture information about the changes and developmentsthat occur as they grow older. The study includes questionsappropriate to the children’s age. This will allow researchersto identify possible causal relationships (for example, dochildren learn to read more quickly if they were readto when younger). When they reach the same age, theB cohort will be asked the same questions as the K cohortwere asked at that particular age, thereby allowingcomparisons of outcomes between the cohorts.Information collected by Footprints in Time can begrouped into the following six areas:• household information—the number of people in thehousehold, their age, sex, Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander status and relationship to the primary carerwith whom the interview is being conducted• child health—maternal health and care, alcohol,tobacco and substance use in pregnancy, birth, earlydiet and feeding (for younger children), nutrition (forolder children), dental health, health conditions, injury,hospitalisation and the child’s sleeping patterns• primary carer health—contains information about theprimary carer on their health conditions, social andemotional wellbeing, smoking habits and exposure• child and family functioning—social and emotionaldevelopment of the child, primary carer concernsabout language and development, parental warmth,major life events and parents who live elsewhereFootprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children | Key Summary Report from Wave 387