Supporting Quality Engagement with Children

Project overview

The Supporting Quality Engagement with Children consultation project aims to include the voices of children, young people and their families in policies and services that directly affect them.

The five Key National Strategies  

The National Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds is undertaking consultation activities across five Key National Strategies.

• Safe and Supported: The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021-2031  
• National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032  
• Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031  
• National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030  
• National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Early Childhood Strategy    

Project Timeframe

This is a three-year project, running from 2023 to 2025.

The National Children’s Commissioner will release a report of the consultation findings each year. The final report, to be released in 2026, will contribute to the evidence base built throughout the project and identify ways the government can embed the views of children, young people and their families in the future development of policies and services.  

Consultation report for Year 1 (2023)  

The first year of consultations focused on the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030.

Consultation activities were developed to gather children and young people’s feedback on the two National Action Plan (NAP) measures to:   

• deliver a website and helpline to assist victims and survivors access help and information (NAP 7)
• set up a national support service for non-offending family members of child sexual abuse perpetrators (NAP 10).   

'Do things with the information we tell you’: Supporting Quality Engagement with Children 2023 Final Report

The report ‘Do things with the information we tell you’: Supporting Quality Engagement with Children 2023 Final Report, details the findings from consultations with 232 children and young people across all Australian jurisdictions, including metropolitan, regional and remote locations.

Children and young people from diverse backgrounds took part, including:

• First Nations children and young people
• children and young people living with disability
• culturally and linguistically diverse children and young people
• those with lived experiences of child sexual abuse.

During consultations, children and young people identified numerous gaps in service provision and clearly articulated their ideal solutions for improving supports and services for themselves and their families.

They wanted to: 

• make genuine connections with service providers and their peers
• hear from other young people with lived experience
• access services and supports in ways that suited their abilities and capacity
• feel safe, happy and heard
• have influence, challenging the Government to action with their overarching message: ‘Do things with the information we tell you.’   

Children and young people said they want to see action based on what they told us about their lived experience. It's not enough to just listen to children; we need to take seriously what they tell us about the systems that are failing to meet their needs. There needs to be accountability for action, and child safety and well-being must be a national priority.

Download the report

What's next?

Check back soon for child-friendly resources from Year 1 of the Supporting Quality Engagement with Children project. 

This project is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services