CYP Matters

Respect and listening

The Valuing Children Initiative Survey 2023
Australian adults’ attitudes towards children have changed to ‘fortunate’, ‘tech savvy’ and ‘honest’ and less ‘selfish’, ‘lazy’ or ‘spoilt’ according to new research. Governments give ‘too little’ consideration to children when making decisions, and 75% of adults agreed the best interests of children should be considered in all decision making. More >

Safeguarding Children: A child rights impact assessment tool
The Child Rights Impact Assessment tool, developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission with support from UNICEF, aims to help governments and service providers measure the impact of any new laws or policies on the wellbeing of Australian children and families, and determine whether they support their best interests. More >

Enjoying and achieving

School suspensions entrench disadvantage. What are the alternatives and how have they worked overseas?
Suspension from school is meant to be a last resort for serious problem behaviour. Despite that, an alarming number of Australian children are suspended every year, often at young ages, for minor reasons.  More >

Research partnership aims to break down learning barriers for students
New research is diving into how classroom technology can play a critical role in supporting neurodiverse learners in Australia, and across the globe. The year-long study will partner with schools across the country to investigate the barriers faced by students with complex learning needs, and how technology can help support inclusive access. More >

Participation

High school students lead the way
GRANT High School students have been educating other school children as part of the Mount Gambier Show. The students are trying to help make children aware of animals and how they contribute to our daily lives.  More >

Child’s play: how we can boost our young people’s happiness
The importance of free play and gathering spaces on the mental and physical health of tweens and teens can’t be overstated, and the community and government should rethink attitudes and policy to encourage them. More >

Diverse youth unite to build a brighter future
Hundreds of high school students gathered for the 2023 NSW Youth Summit, making passionate and articulate presentations on real-world issues they’ve personally experienced, suggesting solutions to inspire greater unity. More >

These young women tackled misinformation: Now, they’re finalists for a Human Rights Award
After noticing misinformation and disinformation around the Voice referendum, young Indigenous women Maggie Blanden and Keshi Moore, created a social media page representing mob’s positions from both the YES and NO camps to truly remain neutral and fact-based. They are now finalists for the Young People’s Award, paying homage to the power of young people and minority groups. More >

“Vaping can affect your whole life, not just your lungs”: Young people’s perspectives on vaping in 2023
Young people in NSW had diverse perceptions about vaping and vaping culture in schools. They identified the reasons why young people chose to vape was mainly associated with the social influence of a friend or peer. More >

Prepared for adult life

News and young Australians in 2023: how children and teens access, perceive and are affected by news media
Young people have a low level of trust in Australian news organisations, and they do not believe that they are understood by these organisations. There has been an increase in the number of young people who get news from social media, however, there is a low level of awareness of how algorithms deliver news. More >

Health and wellbeing

Evidence institutes: lessons for Australia from the UK, US and Canada
There is a significant gap between the research and evidence of what works, and the implementation of this in policy and practice. Simply producing evidence does not automatically lead to uptake or improved outcomes, there is a gap between what we ‘know’, and what we ‘do’. This report explores in what ways evidence institutes can be effective, and identifies the gaps and challenges in the Australian evidence landscape. More >

Worrying trends in young people’s mental health prompts call for action
When we think of today’s younger generations it’s easy to picture confident, tech-savvy, digital natives, ready to take on the world. But scratch the surface and this façade fades, as new research shows that children today are less happy, less optimistic, and less satisfied with their lives than the generation before. More >

Global report on children with developmental disabilities
Developmental disabilities are common. Yet, children with developmental disabilities have been neglected in health systems planning, and policy provisions for health, and continue to experience stigmatization, institutionalization, barriers to access health care and inequalities in health and education outcomes. More >

The impact of vaping on adolescent mental health
This paper provides an overview of what e-cigarettes are and the prevalence of vaping among adolescents in Australia. It also describes findings from a review of the research evidence aimed at understanding the relationship between vaping and adolescent mental health and wellbeing.  More >

What works to improve young children’s social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing?
The development of social, emotional and behavioural skills during early childhood is crucial to children’s overall development and later life. However, some children experience difficulties that may compromise their development and future opportunities. More >

Experts call for national register to help reduce rheumatic fever in Indigenous communities
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are among the world’s highest sufferers of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, yet research reveals only one in five patients received treatment in 2019. More >

‘A massive public health problem’: Australian children as young as 10 are hooked on gambling
Data provided by Gambling Help Online revealed a 16% increase in the number of young people aged 24 and under contacting the help service in the 2022-23 financial year, with youth aged between 15 and 24 in Victoria accounting for about 600 of those 2,136 requests for help. More >

Safe and nurtured

The art of storytelling: How Together for Childhood is building stronger communities and preventing abuse
Together for Childhood is a UK place-based approach to help prevent child abuse. Transformative Evaluation is part of the evaluation process which helps researchers to understand the changes happening in communities.  More >

Listen to her. Act now: the experiences and impact of child abuse on Australian girls
While research into the significant harms and impacts of domestic and family violence, including child abuse, has developed significantly in recent years, particularly following the Australian Childhood Maltreatment Study, there remains a relative paucity of evidence on the range of abusive behaviours experienced by girls during childhood. More >

Never More Than Once
After the removal of a child, the vast majority of birth parents are left struggling to cope with preexisting difficulties, which may escalate, while facing the additional trauma of losing a child. Many parents who have had children removed from their care will go on to have more children removed in the future. This UK report sets out how the government can better support families, so that the removal of a child into the care system never happens more than once. More >

Our children are victims of road violence. We need to talk about the deadly norms of car use
Globally, car crashes are the world’s leading cause of death for people aged five to 25. In Australia, road deaths included 293 people in this age group in 2022, a rise from 281 in 2019 and 276 in 2018. These deaths are stark reminders of the structural problem with a deeply entrenched, car-dominated culture. More >