Over the last few weeks The Guardian, Shona Reid, has been busy amplifying the voices and experiences of children young people in care and youth detention across the country at conferences, meetings and in the media.
This advocacy and public awareness work is vital to inform and influence stakeholders involved in the child protection and youth justice systems – and show children and young people that we are listening to them, and raising their voices in the places and spaces where they need to be heard!
You can read more about what Shona’s been up to below.
Latest podcast appearance
You may have caught Shona’s recent appearance on the Making and Breaking Social Policy podcast, hosted by Dr Ben Lohmeyer of Flinders University. In her interview, Shona highlighted how policy-making affecting children and young people must be led by their voices and respond to their feedback.
“Children know what’s going in this world. They have a lot to tell us about what’s going on in this world,” Shona said.
“It’s just about how brave we are to listen to them and take their lead on that.”
On the episode, Shona raised key concerns related to the South Australian government’s Children and Young People Safety and Support (CYPSS) Bill (2024), which sets the framework for delivering child protection and family support work.
Shona said parts of the Bill carry a risk to children and young people in out-of-home care or needing family support. Her submission raised particular concerns about a lack of transparency regarding amendments that may look small…but which carry big consequences.
As just one example, the Bill removed the express right for children to provide their voice into the annual review process for their care arrangements – a really important opportunity to hear directly from children and young people about what they need to grow well. This comes on the background of concerning statistics reported in The Guardian’s 2023-24 Annual Report – which showed that, out of 86 annual reviews audited that year, the child or young person was only present for a third of those reviews.
Meanwhile, the Bill guaranteed carers an opportunity for in-person attendance and submissions at these meetings. In comparison to those figures above, The Guardian’s 2023-24 Annual Report identified that foster and kinship carers were present in nearly three quarters of relevant annual reviews audited.
Concerns that the Bill displaced children and young people’s rights, while adding rights for adults such as foster carers, was a key theme identified in The Guardian’s submission.
“I’m really surprised that a piece of legislation like this essentially put rights of children in battle with rights of carers and the rights of parents,” Shona said on the podcast.
This sentiment was shared by people with care experience, who provided their views during a consultation specifically on the draft Bill.
“For anything to happen, it takes you to fight and scream for you to have your own fuckin’ voice,” one person said during consultations.
“Why aren’t the children allowed in the annual reviews, but the carers are. Hold up a second!,” another person said.
Following advocacy from The Guardian and other key stakeholders, the Bill has been referred to a Select Committee of the Legislative Council for further investigation, with a report due by 4 February.
You can listen to Shona’s interview in full on the Making or Breaking Social Policy podcast on Spotify.
Amplifying children and young people’s voices
The Guardian has taken multiple opportunities over past weeks to share the powerful stories of South Australian children and young people in care and youth detention, in national forums.
As a panellist for the Children and Young People At Risk Summit in Naarm (Melbourne) on 19 November, Shona spoke about a critical need for investment in communities and services that prevent children coming into the contact with the criminal justice system. This topic is strongly aligned with what we hear from young people, about getting help for themselves and their families at the earliest opportunities.
Shortly following, Shona also presented at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law Annual Congress in Naarm – and raised up the voices of young people who bravely spoke about their experiences in detention and views on the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
“I urge us all to listen to the brave children and young people who, despite being detained and deprived of their liberty, speak with compassion and a desire to make things better,” Shona said at the event.
“We need to listen to their voices and expertise to drive meaningful change”.
Guardian’s national advocacy work 
Earlier this week, Shona travelled to Te Whanganui a Tara (Wellington) to meet with other Australian and New Zealand Commissioners and Guardians who promote the wellbeing of children in both countries.
The group, known as the ANZCCGA, meets four times yearly to discuss their advocacy for children and young people in each of their jurisdictions, and what they can do as a collective group to uphold and promote children and young people’s rights, wellbeing and best interests.
We’ll give more of an update on this meeting next week.
Engaging with the sector
In between travel, Shona has also been busy engaging with SA organisations and sectors, including:
- As a keynote speaker at the South Australian Child Protection and Family Support Symposium on 20 November, speaking about the role we all hold to be the champions, cheerleaders and support systems for children and young people in care.
- Presenting to community services organisation, Centacare, on November 21 – to generate awareness for frontline workers of the support that The Guardian provides to children and young people in care and youth detention.
- Attending the Child and Family Focus SA Annual General meeting on November 22, where she expressed her gratitude for the work and commitment demonstrated by the not-for-profit sector, in supporting children, young people and families.
- Presenting at the Department for Child Protection’s Noarlunga planning day on November 22, to share what children and young people in care tell our office about what they need and what works for them.
While the end of the year often sees offices and organisations slow down as they approach the holiday period, The Guardian continues to take every opportunity to build awareness of the office’s work promoting the wellbeing of children and young people.
This work will continue for the rest of this year and into next year as our office grows – with more advocates than ever before, new policy, media and communications advisors, and recruitment underway for Director of Operational Oversight and a Youth Engagement Coordinator (watch this space for staff profiles coming soon – so you can meet all the new and amazing members of our team!)
Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn for regular updates on our work.
