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 report by the National Children’s Commissioner.
- 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.
Please share our Wrap Ups far and wide! If you have any feedback, email marketing@create.org.au
October advocacy focus
clubCREATE members consulted for National Children’s Commissioner Report
Last year, CREATE Foundation held a consultation session with young people and the National Children’s Commissioner to inform their report, A Ground to Grow From: Supporting Quality Engagement with Young People.
The Report is now available on the Australian Human Rights Commission’s website.
CREATE Updates
CREATE Foundation’s national conference, Voices in Action, returns 1-2 October 2026 on Larrakia Land. Save the date and stay tuned for sponsorship and registrations opening early 2026.
CREATE Foundation attended the Help shape the Centre for Relational Care’s workshop with the mandate to imagine a radically different way that family and community can care for children. We’re proud to contribute to a growing movement reimagining child protection as a child connection system that nurtures safe, enduring relationships for every child.
Opportunities
Are you under 27, have a care experience and choosing tertiary education? The Sisters of Charity Foundation offers a university scholarship valued at up to $30,000 over the duration of your course, and a TAFE scholarship valued at $5,000 per year for the duration of your course. Apply now.
CREATE updates
CREATE’s Bella was recently interviewed about how a new training program by the Department for Child Protection, South Australia will break down barriers to engaging in sports for young people who have experienced trauma. Read about the pilot program here.
CREATE Updates
NT investment in child protection is a start. Decision-making must shift. Read our blog about the Northern Territory Government’s record $160 million investment in child protection.
CREATE in NT teamed up with Rapper Riley P again to produce another song with our Northern Territory Young Consultants. Listen now.
CREATE Updates
CREATE Foundation has provided our second submission to the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland’s Child Safety System highlighting the importance of family and cultural connection as an underlying principle in child protection. The insights and direct quotes included in this submission have been taken from recent Youth Advisory Groups and consultations with young people in Queensland. Read our submission here.
7 CREATE Young Consultants have joined a governance group supporting staff at the University of Queensland with a research project on self-placing. The group met for the first time on 22 October providing insights on how to best connect the research to lived experience. The project will run for three years and CREATE will communicate other opportunities to be involved in the research as they come up.
Media Releases
4 November – From care to independence: Empowering young Queenslanders to thrive with T2A Month 2025
Opportunities
Express your interest to participate in our upcoming Queensland Consultation. Download the flyer for more details.
CREATE Update
Meet YEAG, Victoria’s Youth Expert Advisory Group, passionate about making the transition to independence better for others. Watch the video to hear how they’re shaping policies and programs that affect young people.
CREATE in VIC, together with YEAG and other Young Consultants contributed to Monash University’s research project Improving Transition Planning in Residential Out-of-Home Care. Young people were actively involved in governance meetings and interviews, ensuring their lived experience perspectives were embedded throughout the research. This collaboration strengthened the study’s relevance and impact, highlighting the importance of youth voice in shaping better transition practices. Read the research here.
News
CREATE attended Anglicare’s Someone Else’s Problem report launch. The report is focused on the mental health crisis in the out-of-home-care system. Read it here.
CREATE Foundation joins with Victoria in celebrating the passing of the Statewide Treaty Bill that enshrines democratically-elected body for First Peoples. Read more.
CREATE updates
CREATE has joined 115 organisations and individuals in calling on the NSW Parliament to support the establishment of a public inquiry into a Human Rights Act for NSW. Read our statement.
CREATE supported NSW Young Consultants, Ariel and Sommer with recent guest speaking and consultation opportunities drawing on their lived experience. Ariel spoke to Independent Schools Queensland about how to support children and young people with a care experience in an educational setting, as well speaking on a panel with the Office of the Children’s Guardian which explored the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (Participation). Sommer was consulted by NSW Health on how to improve practice standards and responsiveness when working with children and young people with a care experience. Read our Menu of Consultations to find out more about partnering with CREATE Foundation.
CREATE Updates
During the consultation phase for the Tasmanian Commission for Children and Young People Bill 2024, CREATE Foundation worked with the Department of Premier and Cabinet to consult children and young people with lived experience in out-of-home care. Young people’s voices played a crucial role in shaping the Bill and we’d like to acknowledge and thank them for their valuable contributions. Read more.
Opportunities
Interim Commissioner for Children and Young People, Isabelle Crompton is establishing a new Consultative Council made up of young people aged 12 – 17 to share advice and feedback on government work that affects them. Apply by submitting an Expression of Interest by Friday, 21 November 2025.
News
2 of CREATE’s WA Young Consultants were featured in the media about the need for more foster carers. Thank you to Cheyenne and Annabell for highlighting the important role of carers in providing safety and stability to young people growing up in care. Watch the story here.
Opportunities
Young people in Perth are invited to attend our upcoming Youth Advisory Group where we will be celebrating Pride Month with an op-shop tour and discussing pride and self-expression while in care. Find out more and RSVP.
CREATE Updates
ACT Young Consultants, Tayla and Shona co-facilitated a guest lecture for Social Work students at ACU. The lecture aimed to encourage students to listen to children and young people, develop an understanding about the children and young people’s world and to consider the language being used in conversations and written documentation.
ACT Young Consultant, Jasmine also facilitated an hour guest lecture with second year social work students. The session encouraged students to think about listening to children and young people living with a disability and made suggestions on how they might provide children and young people with opportunities to participate in line with their capacity. The session was interactive and received well, with multiple students speaking to Jasmine afterwards – one shared they felt heard as someone living with a disability, and another who had never previously spoken in class.
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Thank you for reading our Advocacy Wrap Up. To provide feedback, please email marketing@create.org.au
