Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC)

Yesterday, we attended Children's Health Queensland's annual Supporting Advocacy for Youth (SAY) Collaborative Youth Summit! This year’s theme, ‘Today Builds Tomorrow’, highlighted initiatives shaping brighter futures for young Queenslanders. The event featured inspiring presentations from young people, health professionals, and public sector workers, all championing the importance of youth participation and collaboration. A recurring message throughout the day was the power of listening to the voices of young people across perspectives, opportunities, and systems, and working together to create meaningful change. It was also great to see QFCC Youth Advocate Grace at the event, both MCing and appearing on the ‘Great Minds’ panel. Stay tuned to hear more about what was discussed! #QFCC Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service

“Just Keep Going!” -Jozette, a Longreach local, Mayor of the Longreach Youth Council, student and entrepreneur. In her keynote speech at the ASE Young Leaders Summit in Longreach, she spoke about the importance of persistence, pursuing your passions, throwing your hand up for any opportunity, and making a difference in your local community! The 100 primary school students, teachers and community members loved hearing from local Jozette about her experiences, story and advocacy. Some loved it so much they wanted her autograph 📸 Thank you, Jozette, for sharing your story and to all attendees for your participation! Earlier this year, Jozette spoke at our 2024 Youth Summit about living as a young person in Longreach. While sharing her experiences on living in rural Queensland, she told us about the minimal opportunities for careers in the area, distance from community, young people moving away, and the importance of listening and collaborating with rural young Queenslanders. Check out Jozette’s Youth Summit video here: https://lnkd.in/gADfExTr This initiative is run by young people for young people in partnership with The ASE Group #QFCC #YLSLongreach2024 #ASExQFCC

Congratulations, Commissioner Natalie Lewis, for receiving QUT’s Outstanding Indigenous Australian Alumnus Award for 2024!   This award recognises Natalie’s unwavering commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families and her immense career achievements driving child protection and youth justice reform in Australia.   Natalie’s work to strengthen Queensland’s focus on child rights is admirable, and her leadership advocating for the wellbeing of our children and young people is inspiring. Queensland is fortunate to have her lead the QFCC’s award-winning First Nations and Child Rights Advocacy team.   Click on the link in the post below to read more about Natalie’s journey. 👇 QUT (Queensland University of Technology)

During the ‘Healthy’ session at the QFCC Youth Summit, Grace was first to take to the stage where she spoke on the importance of investing in mental health and suicide prevention and why we must support lived experience in these sectors to meet people’s needs, instead of focusing on quick fix band-aid solutions. Alice, Miles and Siobhan followed with topics that covered challenging themes including mental health, disability support, excessive alcohol use and domestic violence. The seriousness of these topics can be difficult to hear about, but the young people in this session led the way by showing why it's important to raise these issues so that solutions can be found. Every child deserves the best start to life, including ensuring that they have good physical and mental health and receive the appropriate support for their needs. It’s also important that parents and carers are supported to maintain their own health. Are you interested in connecting with any of the speakers, or do you have a commitment that you can make to address the issues raised in these young people’s speeches? Let us know! Listen to the speeches: https://lnkd.in/ePCTyp9w #QFCC

Young people who are absent from care placements are at significant risk of exploitation. This is one of the reasons we joined forces with PROJECT PARADIGM and PeakCare Queensland to help produce a toolkit to help frontline support workers when children and young people leave their placement. We are already learning there have been positive outcomes.   A service manager has told us about a young person who was absent from their care placement on average five nights per week and, within two to three months of staff implementing strategies from the toolkit, the young person had gone for eight weeks without an absence or episode of going missing.   The young person is now: 1. enrolled in school 2. attending regular therapy sessions 3. experiencing overall improvement in health 4. significant reduction in substance use, and 5. attends and participates in their care stakeholder meetings.   🔗View the toolkit at: https://lnkd.in/gXJGx9XX #QFCC

Navigating the transition from foster care to adulthood can be a daunting journey. This Amplify Blog post explores the personal experiences of a young adult who faced numerous challenges during this transition. It highlights the importance of continued support for young adults transitioning out of care. 🔗Read more here: https://ow.ly/hmG550TYZ50 #QFCC #T2A

If we really want to understand what it is like as a young person living in rural Queensland, who better to ask than the young Queenslanders themselves? At the recent ASE Youth Leadership Summit, we heard the insightful views of more than 100 primary school students from Longreach and surrounding communities. Young people told us about themselves before sharing concerns about the place they live that impact them. The students then made a pitch to the region's decision-makers about innovative solutions, potential businesses and social initiatives to address these concerns. Stay tuned - we can't wait to share some of their solutions over the upcoming weeks. This initiative is run by young people for young people in partnership with The ASE Group #QFCC #YLSLongreach2024 #ASExQFCC

Keep an eye out on the roads tonight for children trick-or-treating! On Halloween, there will be more children on the footpaths and crossing. Children get excited on Halloween and can move in unpredictable ways. When driving around neighbourhoods, be alert and slow down. Slower speeds save lives. #QFCC

In this Amplify Blog, Youth Advocate Gefion shares their experience transitioning into adult mental health services and the challenges faced along the journey. 'Having mental health issues can make people like me feel lost and confused enough as it is, but it only gets more confusing and isolating when navigating the mental health system for support with such problems.' This Mental Health Month, we encourage everyone to listen to young people with lived experience of the mental health system and include their views when considering how to improve services. 🔗Read their full blog here: https://lnkd.in/ggurZ6Qc #QFCC

We loved spending the morning with Queensland families at the official launch of 'The Big Book of Rights', hosted by Children's Rights Queensland. It's an excellent picture book that celebrates the rights of every child. Author Dannika Patterson and illustrator Amanda Letcher developed the book in consultation with more than 200 Queensland children. It's a colourful and engaging resource that's sure to resonate with children and educators alike. We also loved meeting young Queenslanders Alexis and Tyler, who featured in the book and made a special appearance at the book reading today. The launch was a fitting way to wrap up this year's Children's Week and to celebrate the upcoming 35th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Huge congratulations to the whole team at Children's Rights Queensland for another successful Children's Week and for all you do to raise awareness of children's rights, and thanks for inviting us to join in the celebrations. Dan Marais