CREATE’s monthly Advocacy Wrap Ups provide regular updates on our latest advocacy for improving the lives of children and young people with an out-of-home care experience.
Our Wrap Ups include:
- CREATE’s latest submissions on issues including youth justice, residential care, housing and more.
- Media releases and statements about current issues affecting children and young people in care.
- Relevant news and research in the sector so you can catch up on what has happened over the last month.
- A monthly advocacy focus. This month it’s the Australian Federal Election.
- Consultation opportunities for children and young people to ensure that their lived experiences and voices are heard in decision-making about the out-of-home care system in Australia.
March advocacy focus - Enrol to vote by 7 April
The Australian Federal Election has been called for 3 May
Young voters will be very influential in the upcoming election, with Gen Z and Millennials set to make up nearly 50% of voters. This means that young people have the power to shape the future — but only if they’re enrolled to vote!
How your vote makes a difference
Your vote can help to decide who is in parliament and then they decide the laws and policies that affect your daily life, and the communities we live in.
Check your enrolment
Make sure your details are up-to-date or enrol to vote online at www.aec.gov.au/enrol before 7 April for your voice to be counted in the upcoming election.
What CREATE is doing in the lead up to the election
CREATE Foundation will be sharing what matters most to young people who’ve grown up in care, with federal politicians across all parties (and independents too). We will make sure that those running for parliament know your priorities and that the voices of children in care are important and they matter.
News
CREATE’s NT Young Consultants, Timothy Noakes and Eric Majindi spoke with the ABC about the challenges they had to overcome when they left out-of-home care. Watch their interview here.
CREATE updates
Our NT team are preparing to host a Roundtable on 9 April with Young Consultants and the Department of Children and Families. The Roundtable will focus on priority issues including transition to independence and stability in care. More to come.
CREATE in NT met with CASPA, Foster and Kinship Carers Association NT, Anglicare and NT Stolen Generations to explore collective advocacy opportunities. The group has agreed to meet monthly to advance advocacy agendas, particularly around transition supports.
News
As part of a project with YNOT and the Commissioner for Children and Young People in Tasmania, CREATE’s Young Consultants were asked what they would do if they were Commissioner. Watch the video here.
Opportunities
Give advice to the government to improve care for children and young people. Find out more here.
CREATE updates
CREATE Young Consultants have been co-designing child-friendly information on your rights in care, and how to make complaints. More to come when the project is finalised.
CREATE attended PeakCare’s workshop on shaping the future of the residential care workforce. We would like to acknowledge Young Consultant, Nel who gave an incredible keynote address and the other Young Consultants from the SHIFT Ministerial Youth Advisory Network who provided valuable input and expertise on the strategy for improving the residential care workforce.
The Extended Post Care Support (EPCS) Oversight Group has met again in Brisbane to share their ideas for how the EPCS process can be improved as well as assisting the University of Queensland in their research examining how best to reach and support young people transitioning from care. More to come.
Opportunities
The final round of the CREATE x QFCC Art Competition is now open! Young people with a care experience, up to the age of 25, are invited to share their art on the theme of ‘Life in Care: My Story’. Enter here.
Express your interest to join QCOSS’ First Nations Advisory Group. Find out more here.
Nominations are open for the 2025 Child Protection Week Awards. Make a nomination here.
CREATE updates
Our NSW team welcomed a delegation from Japan seeking learnings about out-of-home care systems in Australia. Here’s a group photo after a big day of shared learnings about strengths-based communication, person-centred approaches, qualities of an effective caseworker and more.
Young people’s insights support capacity building of NSW workforce. CREATE has shared quotes and insights from children and young people to support the development of new capacity building for professionals working with children in residential care to reduce contact with the criminal justice system.
CREATE updates
CREATE Young Consultants connect with decision-makers. Young Consultants have met with the Minister for Child Protection on two occasions, and have expressed their ambitions for child protection legislation in South Australia. Well done to the young people for speaking up and we thank the Minister for listening.
Parliamentary Roundtable. CREATE has been sharing the voices and experiences of young people to Parliament, at a Roundtable convened by the Legislative Council. At the Roundtable, the voices of children and young people in South Australia were heard, through quotes and key messages on the issues that matter the most to them.
Voices of children in care to shape the SA Youth Action Plan. Early in 2025, CREATE made a submission to the Department for Human Services reflecting the priorities of children in care in SA. Stay tuned for how young people will keep having a voice as this work continues.
Speaking up makes a difference. Young Consultants in SA have been in demand, and providing insights and leadership making a difference, in addition to meeting with Minister:
• 2 Young Consultants participated in the facilitation of professional learning for government and non-government sector social workers and carers. Over 2 days, each Young Consultant delivered Worker Training alongside our CREATE Program Facilitator, Angela. The Young Consultants shared their lived experience in care from their perspective, with a focus on their relationships with carers and the practices of professionals they engaged with during their time in care
• CREATE Young Consultants have been invited to meet with residential service provider, Hope Together to co-design therapeutic residential houses. This quarter, there have been two consultation opportunities.
• CREATE has been approached by the Karen Fitzgerald Foundation and asked for two Young Consultants to be keynote speakers at the Foundation’s annual fundraising luncheon. Further, the Foundation has asked for a CREATE Young Consultant to sit on its board.
News
Significant action in SA to implement child protection reform. Read more here.
Latest research and reports
New Human Rights Watch Report, “All I know is I want them home” has found that child protection authorities are disproportionately removing children from Aboriginal families and placing them in out-of-home care. Read the Report here.
CREATE updates
Young Consultant meets with Minister to discuss priorities for ACT children in care. CREATE’s CEO and one of our ACT Young Consultants have met with the Minister to talk about the priorities for children in care in the ACT. More to come.
CREATE updates
Ensuring young voices are heard with changes to youth justice. CREATE has sought improved participation for children and young people in processes that are considering new models and responses to reduce contact with the criminal justice system and residential care settings.
CREATE will keep working with the government and evaluators to ensure the voices of children and young people in care are heard in whether the new model is effective to create safe and stable environments in care throughout Victoria.
News
First Nations human rights leaders file UN complaint over Australian youth justice policies. Read more here.
Reject calls for a Royal Commission. Sign the petition by SNAICC here.
Latest research and reports
The Australian National Preventative Mechanism’s latest Annual Report has revealed alarming issues including overcrowding in detention centres and over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. Read the Report here.
Opportunities
Applications are open for the National Youth off the Streets scholarship program. Apply here.
Are you a passionate young person aged 13-18 in the NT, ACT or VIC? Join the NAPCAN’s Youth Speak Out Council and become a leader in advocacy today. Learn more here.
Sign the petition for a Federal Minister for Children to ensure young people’s rights and needs become a national priority. Find out more here.
The Ethnic Communities Council of NSW (ECCNSW) and the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) are providing online sessions in different languages that cover the importance of voting, eligibility to vote, how to enrol, how to vote correctly and where to get help with voting. Register here for one of the 30-minute sessions.
Subscribe to our enews below to be the first to know when our monthly Advocacy Wrap Ups are published! Please share our Wrap Ups with your colleagues and if you work with children and young people with a care experience, be sure to flag with them any current consultation opportunities so they can have their say.
Thank you for reading our Advocacy Wrap Up. To provide feedback, please email marketing@create.org.au
