Child protection systems must place greater weight on understanding and valuing the voices and participation of children and young people in decision-making.

This needs to happen at both the individual and system level, supported by good policy, practice and resources, to embed a culture of respect for children and young people’s views and experiences.

Services or systems that presume to understand children and young people’s priorities, perspectives and wishes without seeking their insights and respecting their views and experiences, can exacerbate children and young people’s feelings of disempowerment, confusion and frustration. This not only erodes their confidence and trust but can also perpetuate marginalisation and vulnerability in ways that are counter to effective safeguarding.

The South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People engaged in individual and small group conversations with 88 children and young people who have had a range of experiences in a variety of care settings across South Australia. The children and young people who participated were aged between 4 and 25 years and had diverse experiences in terms of the age at which they entered care and how long they had been in care.

Key findings:

• Children described enormous grief and loss associated with significant disruption to their lives, including the loss of relationships with brothers, sisters and extended family.
• Children said they couldn’t understand what was being said to them and that the experience of being put into a stranger’s house without explanation is something they will never forget.
• Children and young people said they were frustrated about not feeling heard when decisions are made that affect their lives.
• Children talked about not understanding how the system works and what everyone does, and that this left them feeling powerless and disconnected from their own lives.

Key recommendations:

• The child protection system explicitly recognise the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ‘best interests’ principle as the paramount consideration in decision-making.
• Children and young people in care must be actively supported and encouraged to develop friendships and access opportunities to participate in school, childhood experiences and activities in line with their peers.
• The system must ensure all children involved with Child Protection have age-appropriate information in multiple formats regarding all aspects of their care and engage children in real time and over time to inform the decisions made about their lives.