CREATE Foundation’s National Experience to Action Board (Youth) has spent the week in Canberra sharing their ‘Statement of Advocacy Priorities’ on critical issues facing children and young people with a care experience, alongside solutions in a ‘Passport to Success’.
NEABY members, who are CREATE Foundation representatives with lived experience of out-of-home care in states and territories across the country, met with Ministers and senior officials to call for federal government action on:
- Support and care for young parents in out-of-home care
- Family and domestic violence
- Priority access to disability and mental health support
- Housing
- Education
- LGBTQIA+ rights
- Support for childhood development and wellbeing from birth into adulthood
- And for children and young people with lived experience of out-of-home care to be included in all areas of policy and system reform.
The conversations and the release of the Statement are timely, and provide a proposal for a nationally cohesive approach to out-of-home care reform that addresses the harrowing findings released this week by UNICEF Australia through, The State of Australia’s Children report.
The young leaders who form NEABY have brought together solutions that form a ‘Passport to Success’ that addresses the systemic inequalities children in out-of-home care continue to face.
The package presented by young advocates at Parliament House this week, responds to the lived experiences of children and young people in care who face “elevated rates of homelessness, discrimination and barriers to full participation, and continuing systemic failures that undermine their rights and wellbeing” (UNICEF Australia, State of Australia’s Children (2025).
It reflects the issues raised by CREATE’s members in the ‘This matters to us’ report which was shared by NEABY members in September 2025 to all State and Federal Ministers accountable for children.
The Passport to Success: Guaranteeing national consistency
The Passport to Success provides a mechanism for the federal government to take the lead on a cohesive national response that tackles head on the issues challenging child protection systems in each state and territory.
If adopted and acted on at every level of government, the Passport to Success provides inter-generational circuit breakers that will move Australia from the current crisis in care to best practice, child-rights and developmentally sound approaches.
Working closely with State and Territory governments, NEABY members are optimistic that real change is possible.
Quotes from NEABY members
Sarah, the young advocate representing children and young people with a care experience in South Australia shared, “Today was insightful and I feel like we were listened to, and that Minister Plibersek actually understood where we were coming from and what we were speaking about. I feel like there is hope that things will progress.”
Cheyenne, representing Western Australia, confirmed how disconnected the current system is from the evidence on child and adolescent development and wellbeing. She said, ”We need to make sure that we are working together to meet the developmental needs of all children and young people. The current disconnect for children and young people within the residential care system nationally is setting children back developmentally by not meeting those foundational attachment needs.”
Ann representing Tasmania stated, “we need education in family violence because kids in care go through it, and it follows us through our lives, and we end up in the same situations because we weren’t taught how to be loved, and how to have a sense of belonging in the world. So we let others treat us like that again, because we don’t know that it’s wrong and we don’t learn boundary setting.”
Jayden representing Queensland shared the unacceptable risk and harm caused through the discrimination and hate towards LGBTIQAAP+ children and young people in out-of-home care, and the inadequate protections in place. He shared, “Queer young people deserve to be loved and supported no matter what their gender identity is, and no matter what part of the out-of-home care system they live in. Gender diverse young people get treated vastly differently in the residential care and kinship system than they do in a foster home.”
Jayden and Sarah led the discussion calling for priority access to mental health and disability supports. Jayden shared that, “Young people with an out-of-home care experience must have priority access to Thriving Kids, NDIS and adequate disability supports. It affects our life, our functionality, our access to community and friendships.”
Sarah agreed saying, “Making it more accessible means that we when we grow up we can live independently, study and work and be part of our communities.”
Tayla, representing ACT talked about the vital need for housing, education and employment security when leaving care, summarising it perfectly by saying, “We want what every kid our age does. With a little extra support, we can get there too.”
Read the 'Statement of Advocacy Priorities' and the 'Passport to Success'
About CREATE Foundation and the National Experience to Action Board (Youth)
The National Experience to Action Board (Youth) at CREATE Foundation is the national voice for those who cannot share their voices; those who have been removed from their families through no fault of their own and raised in out-of-home care. NEABY members all have lived experience of child protection and out-of-home systems, and represent every state and territory throughout Australia.
CREATE Foundation is the Australian national consumer body representing the voices of children and young people with an out-of-home care experience. We provide programs to children and young people with an out-of-home care experience. We listen to what those with lived experience tell us, and advocate with and for them to achieve systemic change. CREATE is a national leader in child and youth participation in Australia, bringing 25 years of child voice and participation expertise.
*ENDS*
For further comment from CREATE Foundation’s National Advocacy Director, Jen contact Taylor Toovey, Communications and Media Specialist via (m) 0478 814 752 or taylor.toovey@create.org.au
Key statistics on out-of-home care in Australia
- There are currently around 44,900 children and young people in out-of-home (OOHC) care nationally (AIHW, 2024).
- As of 30 June 2024, of the 44,900 people in out-of-home care, 20,000 were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children (AIHW, 2024).
UNICEF Australia, The State of Australia’s Children, (2025) https://www.unicef.org.au/the-state-of-australia-s-children
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Child protection Australia 2023–24. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/child-protection/child-protection-australia-2023-24/contents/about
CREATE Foundation. (2025). This matters to us: Lived experience insights from children and young people with a care experience 2024-2025. This-matters-to-us-CREATE-Foundation-Youth-Advisory-Group-Report-2024-2025.pdf
