National Children’s Commissioner visits AbSec
Wednesday 19 May 2021
The National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds visited AbSec on Friday, 14 May and spoke with a group of Aboriginal young people about their views and advice on out-of-home care and safety issues, living independently and navigating adulthood.
The Commissioner is consulting with young people on the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 (National Framework), which is an ambitious, long-term approach to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Australia’s children and aims to deliver substantial and sustained reductions in levels of child abuse and neglect over time.
Under this consultation project, entitled Keeping kids safe and well – your voices, the Australian Human Rights Commission, along with the National Children’s Commissioner, are currently consulting with children and young people about the implementation of the key priorities in the next National Framework set to begin in 2021.
The key priorities for the next National Framework include:
- Addressing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection systems
- A national approach to early intervention and targeted support for children and families experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage
- Improved information sharing, data development and analysis
- Strengthening child and family sector workforce capability
The consultations seek the views and ideas of children, young people and families with lived experience of disadvantage and vulnerability on how to keep children safe and healthy in their homes and communities. In the context of child protection, kids will be asked their views about access to services and supports in areas such as health and education.
Members of AbSec’s Youth Ambassador Program were joined by local young people from the Redfern and La Perouse communities. Ten Aboriginal young people and four Aboriginal support workers participated in a small group workshop, expressing their views and advice around services and supports and explaining what they want to see. The Commissioner and her staff also met with staff from AbSec and The Stolen Generations Council of NSW & ACT before the workshop.
As a part of the development of the next National Framework, SNAICC – National Voice for our Children have also launched national public consultations as part of a co-design process. The new National Framework is expected to be launched in November 2021.