Including the interests of children and young people in policy development: current challenges and opportunities

Australia is in the midst of reformulating a number significant policy frameworks that influence responses to children and young people at the state, territory and federal levels.

These include the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children and the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. In addition, a family law reform program is in train following recommendations from the Australian Law Reform Commission and three recent parliamentary inquiries.

These developments will impact children and young people, including those in the most vulnerable groups who engage with child protection systems, whose families experience separation and who are affected by family and domestic violence.

Bringing together the National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds, researchers Rachel Carson and Monica Campo and practitioner Heidi Saunders, this webinar sets out the importance of ensuring that policy frameworks respond appropriately to children and young people, considers processes that support this and discusses research on the needs of children and young people affected by family violence and safety concerns. Specifically, this webinar will:

• Discuss processes for the development of the new iterations of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children and the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children

• Consider research findings that demonstrate the importance of policy settings that respond to the needs of children and young people

• Provide a practice perspective on the needs of children and young people who experience family and domestic violence. W

We encourage you to test your system before the webinar, and read our Frequently Asked Questions (https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/frequently-asked-questions-about-cfca-webinars). This webinar is presented in collaboration with The Australian Human Rights Commission. Register here