Respect and listening
Children’s Commissioner for England sets out ‘100 Voices for 100 Days’
The first 100 days of any new administration is often seen as a defining period, where a government sets out its key missions, so for the first 100 days of the new government, the Commissioner will be sharing a child’s voice and giving their honest and positive vision of how to improve the experience of childhood. More >
What children want parents to know about bullying
Bullying is not ‘a normal part of growing up’ nor is it ‘just something kids do’. But there are things parents, carers and other adults can do to support the children in their care and protect them from the harmful effects of bullying. More >
A national conversation on Measuring What Matters in Australia
Critical to the success of the Measuring What Matters framework will be gaining the perspectives and buy-in of the Australian public, allowing for diverse voices to be heard including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disabilities, new migrants, children and young people, and those living in remote and regional Australia. More >
Enjoying and achieving
Why are children spending more time indoors?
Some key reasons why children are spending more time indoors include: fewer nature spaces where children can play, increased use of electronic devices, and study being prioritised over play. More >
Even as young as five, girls are being held back by pressure of perfection
Findings from this study highlighted a significant societal bias disproportionately impacting girls. Society is around seven times more likely to attribute terms like ‘sweet’, ‘pretty’, ‘cute’ and ‘beautiful’ exclusively to girls while terms such as ‘brave’, ‘cool’, ‘genius’ and ‘innovative’ are twice as likely to be attributed exclusively to boys. More >
Nature play and child wellbeing
This resource summarises research evidence about the different types of contacts with nature that promote child wellbeing. It describes nature play, and the benefits for children 0-5 years. More >
Participation
Home or Out Alone
It can be hard to decide whether a child is ready to either stay at home or go out alone. There’s a lot to think about. This UK guide is designed to help parents and carers make the right decision for themselves and their child. More >
Prepared for adult life
Protect the child, save the adult: An opportunity to cut welfare costs by nearly 40%
People who have suffered child abuse or neglect are three times more likely to access government income support payments in early adulthood, underlining the costly and long-term effects of adverse early life experiences. More >
Health and wellbeing
Understanding culture and social and emotional wellbeing among young urban Aboriginal people
This article looks at the role of connection to culture in the social and emotional wellbeing of young urban Aboriginal people. It considers how practice can support greater wellbeing via connection to culture and how services can improve their engagement with young urban Aboriginal people. More >
The right data at the right time in the right hands supports better outcomes
To tackle entrenched disadvantage in Australia, we need to have consistent and timely information to know what is happening and where, but we don’t! This article outlines some of the key problems with the current approach to data use and describes how Restacking the Odds has been addressing these problems. More >
What is wellbeing?
Wellbeing is a commonly used term, but it can mean different things to different people. This brief animation aims to provide a clear and consistent definition, to eliminate the barriers to understanding and collaboration, allowing for more effective programs and services, evaluation, and comparability across different evidence bases. More >
The unfair divide: disadvantage faced by young people who are homeless
Youth Survey respondents who were homeless in the past year were more likely than their peers with stable housing to suffer from a mental health condition, experience loneliness, struggle to fit in socially and face financial hardship. Homelessness can impact a young person’s development and its effects are often long-lasting. More >
Youth mental health and social media
Social media can have a negative impact on mental health, however the current narrative blaming social media for the youth mental health crisis is overly simplistic and fails to address other important factors associated with poor mental health in young people including childhood maltreatment, family violence, poverty, and future uncertainty. More >
Building networks for systemic impact
Our biggest, most intractable problems can’t really be addressed by a single organisation, but places where the needle is moving on issues that were thought to be intractable are because organisations have learned to come together so that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. More >
Insights into the diversity of families raising children and young people
The traditional image of the nuclear family, consisting of a mother, father and two children, permeates our cultural understanding of family life. This report responds to the need for a more nuanced view, challenging current conventions and celebrating the real diversity of ways people create family when raising children. More >
Safe and nurtured
Child protection Australia 2022–23
This report provides an overview of children in the child protection system in 2022–23, including children subject to notifications, investigations, and substantiations of maltreatment, and the ways children were supported. More >
Youth Connect program evaluation
Young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds often experience difficulty in engaging with the wider community and building connections. Youth Connect offers these young people support. More >
What is FASD, and why do so many children with it end up in Australia’s justice system?
Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is caused by exposure to alcohol in the womb. Childrens’ cognitive skills are well below their chronological age and they may be unable to differentiate right from wrong or learn from their mistakes. More >
Building connection for children and young people in foster care – MOCKINGBIRD showing promise
In SA, Mockingbird brings together and creates extended family like hubs for kinship and foster carers and the children and young people for whom they care, to share ideas, advice, meet for social activities and create connections. More >
AI is overpowering efforts to catch child predators, experts warn
Prosecutors and child safety groups working to combat crimes against children say AI-generated images have become so lifelike that in some cases it is difficult to determine whether real children have been involved in their production. A single AI model can generate tens of thousands of new images in a short time, and this content has begun to flood both the dark web and seep into the mainstream internet. More >
2024 Child homelessness snapshot
In 2022-23, more than 76,000 children under the age of 18 sought help from homelessness services. Of these children, almost 16,000 approached homelessness services alone, unaccompanied by a parent or caregiver, many fleeing violence or neglect at home. More >
How inviting Aboriginal elders to the Family Court could help Indigenous families escape child removals
The Family Court is on a mission to help troubled Aboriginal families before family conflict escalates, to avoid their children being removed from their homes. Historically, very few Aboriginal families access the Family Court of Australia but its chief justice says it must be built as an alternative for families dealing with high levels of distress. More >
National Children’s Commissioner calls for children to be recognised as victims in their own right
Evidence shows that if we are serious about ending violence against adult women, we need to get serious about stopping violence experienced in childhood. This is the hidden prevention opportunity that has been ignored. More >
‘Help way earlier!’ – transforming child justice
For too long governments have ignored the evidence that prevention, not punishment, is key to keeping our children and the community safe. This report calls for reform based on evidence and human rights and highlights the need for child safety and wellbeing to be made a national priority. More >
Roblox was just banned in Turkey to ‘protect children’. What’s Australia doing?
Roblox is a hugely popular online gaming platform that contains its own little universe of games. It is primarily targeted at children. While they can engage in fun digital play and even learn basic programming, they may also have troubling encounters, such as seeing sexually explicit content, and experiencing grooming or cyberbullying. More >