CREATE’s monthly Advocacy Wrap Ups provide regular updates on our latest advocacy for improving the lives of children and young people with an out-of-home care experience.
Our Wrap Ups include:
- CREATE’s latest submissions on issues including youth justice, residential care, housing and more.
- Media releases and statements about current issues affecting children and young people in care.
- Relevant news and research in the sector so you can catch up on what has happened over the last month.
- A monthly advocacy focus. This month it’s the Tasmania State Election.
- Consultation opportunities for children and young people to ensure that their lived experiences and voices are heard in decision-making about the out-of-home care system in Australia.
Latest research and reports
New report on The Right to Education in Australia.
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Too many people, especially children, do not have full access to their right to education according to a new report by the University of Newcastle‘s Centre for Law and Social Justice in collaboration with the Human Rights Law Centre.
There can be additional barriers to engaging in education for children and young people in out-of-home care due to:
- placement instability and changing schools
- financial stress
- challenges with the transition from care to adulthood — a time where young people are considering higher education, and
- stigma and peer perceptions on being in care and its impact on engagement levels at school.
CREATE supports calls for greater protections around the right to engage in education because education is an important gateway to health and emotional wellbeing, a sense of purpose and agency, economic wellbeing and independence.
News
World Care Day: Celebrating kids in care and calling for their voices to be properly heard.
National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children to be established.
Youth Peak Bodies Australia-wide call on the Government to Raise the Rate.
Commissioners, Guardians and Advocates with Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre team members at piyura kitinia from the ANZCCGA meeting
News
Media Releases and Statements
Media Releases and Statements
CREATE Foundation calls on governments to transition away from Residential Care.
New funding for Aboriginal sector in Victoria.
News
Nominations now open for Victorian Protecting Children Awards.
Government responds to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria.
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CREATE welcomes the Victorian Government’s response to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria. While the Government has supported 45 of the Inquiry’s 51 recommendations, we were disappointed to see that they did not support the recommendation that housing should be recognised as a human right under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006. Adequate housing must be enshrined as a basic human right.
Read more
The Premier’s formal apology is an important acknowledgement of the harms caused and CREATE’s thoughts are with Victorians who experienced abuse and neglect while in institutional care. A dedicated redress scheme for people in Victorian state care before 1990 is in progress.
Our submissions
CREATE’s submission to the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Consultation opportunities
News
KWY Aboriginal Corporation declared a RATSIO.
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KWY has long been delivering positive outcomes for Aboriginal young people and communities in South Australia and is supporting the new Finding Families initiative to identify safe family homes for Aboriginal children and young people currently residing in residential care.
Consultation opportunities
Have your say about the minimum age of criminal responsibility in South Australia.
Latest research and reports
Media Releases and Statements
New LGBTQIA+ inclusion strategy to promote equality.
Consultation opportunities
Have your say about the authorisation of restrictive practices.
Share your feedback on priority policy issues in Western Australia.
There’s still time to contribute to the WA Youth Action Plan. Complete the Survey.
Update on CREATE’s recent consultation
CREATE is finalising a report on our consultation with 27 young people on the topic of ‘Accessing Your Records: The views and experiences of young people with an out-of-home care experience in Western Australia’.
The recommendations based on the findings will be presented to the government and will inform our advocacy to improve young people’s rights. Key messages from the report will be available soon — stay tuned.
News
Continuing calls to ‘fix’ NSW’s broken child protection system.
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In spite of reforms made to NSW’s child protection and care system, including a new funding model and increased funding over recent years, NSW’s Permanency Support Program (PSP) is not delivering improved outcomes for children in care.
The PSP evaluation report released last year found, “There is little evidence that receipt of a PSP package substantially improved children’s safety, permanency, stability, and wellbeing (p. 24).” These findings illustrate the urgent need for reform in NSW, beginning with implementing findings from the Family is Culture review and the Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People’s Voices of Children and Young People in Out-of-Home Care report.
‘Restoration taskforce’ to be established in NSW to return Aboriginal children to their families.
Media Releases and Statements
New Aboriginal-led early childhood education and care program launched in NSW.
NSW has entered into a state-based Closing the Gap partnership agreement.
Two new Sentencing Council members appointed in NSW.
Consultation opportunities
Have your say about a NSW Independent, Aboriginal-led Government Accountability Organisation.
Media Releases and Statements
Additional support and resourcing for the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body.
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CREATE wishes Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts a warm welcome as she commences her five-year term as the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner in the ACT. We look forward to collaborating with Commissioner Turnbull-Roberts and supporting her work to improve the rights and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, especially those with a care experience.
Our submissions
CREATE Foundation ACT Budget Submission
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In our Submission, we called on the Government to use the Budget to fully resource legislative amendments to the Children and Young People Act 2008. Practice reform must occur alongside these important legislative amendments to ensure the reforms succeed in both diverting vulnerable families from contact with the child protection system and in improving experiences and ensuring the wellbeing of those already engaged with the system. CREATE also sees the upcoming 2024-25 Budget as an opportunity to provide further and more targeted investment to meet the needs of children and young people in care, to support kinship and foster carers, and to support young care leavers in the face of ACT’s cost of living crisis.
News
Youth Justice reform announced in the Northern Territory.
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A review of the youth justice system and legislation has been announced in the Northern Territory. CREATE hopes that the youth justice review will be an opportunity to consider approaches that prevent young people’s involvement in the justice system while addressing the root causes and protecting their rights and dignity.
New Children’s Commissioner appointed in the Northern Territory.
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CREATE congratulates Shahleena Musk on her appointment as Children’s Commissioner in the Northern Territory. Musk is a Larrakia human rights lawyer with a wealth of experience in child protection, children’s rights, and youth justice. CREATE was pleased to meet Musk, and looks forward to more collaboration to elevate the rights of young people in care in the Northern Territory.
Media Releases and Statements
Queensland releases the Roadmap for Residential Care.
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Following the Review of the Residential Care system, the Queensland Government has released its Roadmap detailing the reform plan. CREATE is pleased to see that the Roadmap includes avenues to hear young people’s voices which we advocated for, including the establishment of a Ministerial Youth Advisory Group. The majority of the recommendations in our submission have been accepted which we are glad to see. CREATE continues to advocate for additional commitments, such as a stronger focus on safety, investment in building a highly specialised workforce, and piloting a placement-matching system based on individualised needs. Read CREATE’s submission here.
Latest research and reports
Growing Up in Queensland report by Queensland Family & Child Commission
Consultation opportunities
Apply to be a speaker at the QFCC Youth Summit.
Read more
Everyone is entitled to equal opportunities and protection against discrimination. That’s why the Queensland Government is modernising anti-discrimination laws to reflect current community values and expectations. Young people’s input is crucial in this journey!
These reforms include taking a more proactive and preventative approach to Queensland’s anti-discrimination framework, including adopting a positive duty to eliminate discrimination, as well as expand protections for people who experience domestic and family violence or homelessness. Have your say before Friday, 22 March.
February advocacy focus
In the weeks leading up to the Tasmania State election on Saturday, 23 March, CREATE Foundation is calling on all sides of Government to prioritise the needs of children and young people with a care experience by:
- Implementing all 191 recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry
- Ensuring young people are prepared for when they leave care
- Guaranteeing an independent living allowance of $16,000 per year for young people leaving care
- Providing housing support for care-leavers up to the age of 25
- Stopping taking kids to adult prisons and raising the age of criminal responsibility as a priority
- Funding the Aboriginal sector
Subscribe to our enews below to be the first to know when our monthly Advocacy Wrap Ups are published! Please share our Wrap Ups with your colleagues and if you work with children and young people with a care experience, be sure to flag with them any current consultation opportunities so they can have their say.
Thank you for reading our Advocacy Wrap Up. To provide feedback, please email marketing@create.org.au
