I’ve been reflecting this week on the overarching message for National Child Protection week (1-7 September), Every child in every community needs a fair go and the important role our sector plays in bringing this vision to life. The theme for 2024 is Every conversation matters and here at FRSA we’ve been focusing on the critical yet often forgotten process of including children and young people in those conversations. All too often we speak for or about children and young people – granted, generally through a desire to protect – when actually, they are perfectly capable of sharing their thoughts and feelings and ideas if provided with a supportive and safe space to share. Lisa, our Communities of Practice Project Officer, has just spent the past few weeks facilitating discussions with her community of practice groups about actively listening to children in program design and evaluation, as well as in the therapeutic service delivery context, and has come away buzzing with the ideas and practices shared by community of practice participants.
On a more sobering note, we’ve been engaging with the Parliamentary Inquiry into family violence orders and one of the clear concerns coming from our members in the family law context is how, too often, children are not listened to and are placed in living arrangements that do not keep them safe. They are simply not getting a fair go and it can be devastating. If the rumour mill and media speculation is right, we are likely to hear about more funds to address family, domestic and sexual violence today – including services to support women and children as victim survivors as well as men’s behaviour change program funding.
I do take this opportunity to point readers to the webinar recording of the first webinar in FRSA’s series: A First Nations focus on family and relationship services. This is a good news, inspiring story of a program done well, where children, young people and their families are actively listened to by embracing Indigenous expertise in using Restorative Practice in child protection matters. I encourage readers to take a look at the recording by Sarah Decrea, Relationships Australia SA – Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Leadership is best practice in Child Protection – and share it with your networks.
We are all excited here at the FRSA Office with our annual member-only Strategic Leadership Forum set to kick off next Tuesday! We have over 70 CEOs and senior managers from across the network joining us in Canberra on 10-11 September. With a Federal election on the horizon, it is an important time to highlight the work of our sector in Canberra. Delegates will spend the first day hearing from key voices within the public service. On day 2, it’s time for government to hear from us. Forum delegates will spend the day up at Parliament House meeting with parliamentary members, senators and senior advisors to share our priorities and our achievements. We are delighted to be starting day 2 with a breakfast address from the Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP. It’s promising to be a great event.
