Voices of children and young people

Children and young people should be active participants in decisions that affect their lives and have opportunities for their views, ideas and opinions to be heard and acted upon where appropriate.

Participation is meaningful when a child or young person is supported in developing skills and confidence to speak out, to give their views and assert their wishes. Participation of children and young people must be encouraged and reinforced through positive experiences of having their contributions taken seriously by workers and by the system as a whole.

The National Standards seek to ensure that adequate and appropriate information is conveyed to children and young people about their history, plans for their future, education, health and other important areas, as well as jurisdictional practices, policies and legislative requirements that relate to them.

Their views about what works, what can be done better and what should change, will help drive continuous improvement in out-of-home care.