Get Involved
Voices of Children, Young People & Families
Voices of children, young people & families
– how to see, hear and action them in systems
The aim of this page is to make it as easy as possible for all of us in Queensland to start elevating the voices of children, young people & their families, right now. You’ll find links to:
Our commitment to the voices of children and young people
When we include the voices of children and young people in our work, we make better decisions and get better outcomes for everyone.
At Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership, we believe that we can work together to support the voices of children and young people by:
- providing organisational leadership, permission and resources
- engaging children and young people as co-producers and co-designers
- committing to enable agency and develop capabilities
- enabling youth advocates, consultants, researchers and peer mentors
- sharing and using what we've already been told
- using evidence-based framing about young people
- building a rights-based culture and practice
- using The Nest wellbeing framework
- building common neuro-based knowledge and skills
- using the Resilience Scale
- engaging with ‘communities of practice’
- committing to co-creating accountability.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12 is ‘Respect for children’s views’. This means that children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously.
Please contact us at tqkp@aracy.org.au if you know of resources or links that could be added to this page.
ENGAGEMENT REPORTS
– What children & young people are already telling us
A lot of organisations across Queensland are already consulting with children and young people, and sharing their findings in clear and informative reports. However, it’s not always easy to keep track of these reports.
We have compiled some of the key reports so you can:
- Learn more about what children and young people have already told us
- Use quotes from these reports to elevate young voices in your own publications and advocacy (with the appropriate citations)
- Use the reports to guide future engagement with children and young people (and to build on existing work rather than reinventing the wheel)
QUEENSLAND-SPECIFIC REPORTS
The following reports include quotes and direct feedback from children and young people in Queensland.
- The Big Book of Rights Consultation Report – Children’s Rights Queensland, 2024
- Young Queenslanders Strategy – Queensland Govermet, 2024
- Mission Australia Youth Survey – Queensland State Report – Mission Australia, 2024
- Youth Summit Report – QFCC, 2024
- Safe Spaces: Growing Up in Queensland Report – QFCC, 2024
- Young People’s Voices (Youth Detention) – PeakCare, 2024
- Queensland Child Rights Report – QFCC, 2023
- Mission Australia Youth Survey – Queensland State Report – Mission Australia, 2023
- Yarning for Change: Listen to My Voice – QFCC, 2022
- Hear Her Voice – Women’s Safety & Justice Taskforce, 2022
- Youth Sentiment Snapshot, Queensland Government, 2022
- Changing the Sentence Report: Overseeing Queensland’s youth justice reforms – QFCC, 2021
- Big Voices – Children’s Art Matters – State Library Queensland, 2021
- Rights, Voices, Stories project report: Identifying what matters to children and young people involved in the Queensland child protection system – QFCC, 2021
REPORTS FROM ACROSS AUSTRALIA
The following list represents a small sample of reports from across Australia that include the voices of children, young people and families. The offices of our state and territory Children’s Commissioners are also a great place to find out more.
- My Suburban Life – Commissioner for Children & Young People SA, 2025
- Young and Wise: A review of what Australian children and young people say they need to thrive – ARACY, 2024
- Children and Homelessness in Western Australia – As told by support workers and young people in Western Australia – Valuing Children Initiative, 2024
- Mission Australia Youth Survey 2024 – Mission Australia, 2024
- In their own right: Actions to improve children and young people’s safety from domestic, family and sexual violence – ANROWS, 2024
- Be part of the ripple – Listening to the voices that matter! Prevention United, Melbourne, 2024
- More for Children: What children say makes life tough or good – Children’s Policy Centre, ANU, 2024
- CREATE Foundation Reports
- The Things That Matter 3 Views of 8-12 year olds on life, school and community – South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People, 2022
- What can adults learn from children? – Commissioner for Children & Young People WA, 2022
- ‘Somebody in your corner’: The views of children, young people, carers and care providers on children and young people being stable and safe in out-of-home care – Commissioner for Children & Young People TAS, 2023
- Children Draw Talking: A Global Online Gallery – Early Childhood Voices Conference, Charles Sturt University, 2022
- Keeping kids safe and well – your voices – National Children’s Commissioner, 2021
- Now you have heard us, what will you do? Young people’s experiences of domestic and family violence – Children & Young People Commissioner ACT, 2020
ENGAGEMENT GUIDES
– Resources to support you to engage children & young people
Many organisations have published guides to support the inclusion of voices of children and young people.
A great place to start is the QFCC’s Youth Participation – A Quick Start Guide.
Other resources that we find useful (reverse chronological order) include:
- Lundy Model Infographic for Child Participation – Professor Laura Lundy, 2025
- Youth Engagement Strategy – yourtown, 2024
- A grownups’ guide to providing child focused help – Commissioner for Children & Young People, South Australia, 2024
- Accountable Futures Collective, NSW
- Media Guide: Treating Every Child and Young Person Fairly – NAPCAN, 2024
- Engaging Children in Decision Making: A Guide for Consulting Children – A combined initiative of Ballarat, Brimbank, Maribyrnong, Melton & Wyndham City Councils, and the Department of Education, 2023
- Engaging children with disability in supported decision making – Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2023
- Solid Voices of Tomorrow guide – Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP), 2022
- Child and Youth Participation Framework – QFCC, 2022
- Amplifying the Youth Voice: Health Consumers Queensland Youth Engagement Framework – Health Consumers Queensland, 2021
- the promise scotland, 2020
YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCILS
– Existing networks that engage directly with Queensland children & young people
There’s an amazing network of 1000s of child and youth advisory councils and consultation groups across Queensland. Some are designed to guide the work of a particular organisation while others are open to more broad engagement.
The QFCC’s list of Youth Advocacy & Advisory Groups is a great place to learn more about some of the groups across Queensland.
These can be useful for:
- Sharing consultation opportunities
- Seeking speakers for events
- Engaging groups in formal consultation or review of your work
- Providing opportunities for children and young people to get involved with issues that impact them.
Other Queensland Government youth engagement programs include:
EVERYDAY PRACTICE
– Examples of how Queenslanders are engaging children and young people in daily work
Engaging children and young people is about embedding their voices in our work every day.
Below we are building a list of real-life examples to remind and inspire us all.
If you have an example to share, please email an image and a short explanation (up to 100 words) to tqkp@aracy.org.au.
“At the Scenic Rim Council’s Get Ready Family Fun Day, 12 October 2024, Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership asked kids for their advice/tips on how to stay healthy and safe in the heat (Beaudesert’s #1 hazard). Several kids and parents told me they loved that kids were asked for their knowledge because that doesn’t usually happen. Others said they were surprised how much kids actually know; and the more the board got filled up with kids’ tips, the more excited new kids were to add their knowledge to it. BTW, most common tip: drink water/ stay hydrated.”
“Play Matters enlisted the expertise of children’s participation rights specialist, Dr Cynthia Hicban, to support our aspirations as advocates for children. The project took us on a journey of understanding what children’s voices were, how we listen to children’s voices through embedded practice, as well as inspiring new ways to transform listening to action so that children’s voices could be represented where possible.” Find out more at Play Matters.
NAPCAN has created a simple resource called the Children’s Voices Activity, designed to support adults to talk to children about matters that impact them. The resource makes it clear that the main role of the adult is to LISTEN and to recognise that children are experts about their own lives. It also encourages adults to pass the children’s messages on to decision makers and to keep them involved in the process.
Joomunjie Land is a HUGE Loose Parts Play oasis, located at Eagleby South State School. This place has been built BY children, FOR children! Joomunjie Land was built as a response to children who were consulted across Eagleby in 2020. The children who joined a consultation with the Australian Institute of Play shared that there are not enough spaces for children to PLAY where they live. From there, Joomunjie was only possible to build, with help from the student leaders at Eagleby South State School in 2022.
Looking for more?
Search the resource library for reports, submission, articles, videos, webinars and more to inspire you and build your knowledge and confidence to create change!
Young & Wise Report Launched!
On 14 February 2025, ARACY launched Young & Wise – a powerful new resource report bringing together the voices of 10,000+ children and young people!
