Over the course of Queensland’s Child Safety Commission of Inquiry, CREATE Foundation called for children and young people with lived experience to be front and centre.
Because the 12,700 children currently in care and those before themknow best what it is like to grow up in care in Queensland and what needs to change.
Through submissions to the Inquiry as well as social media and media engagement, CREATE supported lived experience experts to be heard in the Inquiry.
CREATE established the following advocacy priorities for the QLD Inquiry.
Reduce Reliance on Residential Care
As long as kids are living in residential care, make it safer, use therapeutic and relational models, and address workforce issues.
Reduce the Number of Children Entering Care and Staying in Care
Invest in early intervention and family preservation. Prevent and target family violence.
Take Meaningful Steps towards Aboriginal Self-Determination
And closing the gap in over-representation through First Nations-led approaches to raising First Nations kids.
Stop Criminalising Children and Address Unmet Needs and Disadvantage
Locking up children is unsafe and sets them up for cycles of trauma and re-offending.
clubCREATE members in Queensland have been speaking up to have their voice heard by the Commission. Head over to our YouTube Channel to watch our miniseries #OurVoiceInTheInquiry and watch Nellie how to make a submission to the Inquiry.
Young people shared their experiences with the Inquiry through CREATE by:
coming together at Youth Advisory Groups (YAGs) to talk about their lives in care — what they shared informed CREATE's submissions to the Inquiry
being in videos for CREATE’s social media
and speaking to the media about their experiences.
