Commissioner’s Opinion
Through her work as South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly is driving home the message that listening to children and young people should be our priority. Helen firmly believes that, where possible, we should work with children and young people to co-design solutions that take into account their opinions, ideas and lived experience. Below are opionion editorials written by Helen and published by mainstream media and shared on socials.
The world is changing for children and young people in regional communities
They are globally connected and are part of a large youth generation that has high expectations of their community leaders along with a desire to have their views and opinions listened to and acted upon.
Future of Work: Coming ready or not
Young people still turn to their parents for career advice and to plan for post school pathways. Many parents however feel that they are not adequately equipped to inform them. In a recent survey commissioned by my office, 400 parents of 14–20 year olds in South Australia were asked how prepared they felt to provide meaningful advice to their children.
Mixed Messages — we tell our young people to stand up for themselves, then criticise them when they do
As a child of the 60’s I grew up in an environment of children should be seen and not heard. As a student I was asked to accept what I was told, not question what was presented and not have independent thoughts and opinions, and if I did, to keep them to myself and not challenge the status quo.
Children and Young People deserve our accountability
Feedback mechanisms are considered essential for building transparency and trust, improving outcomes and processes, providing higher quality services and proving as indicators of problems. There is also an increasing understanding that the best feedback systems are designed with the users at centre and in culturally and contextually competent ways.
It’s National Child Protection Week
The Child Protection theme this year is ‘play your part’ with a focus on listening to children and young people. I spoke to the audience in Elder Hall about the importance of respecting and valuing our children and highlighted the fact that there needed to be a change in how we view children and young people in order to make any real changes in the prevention of child abuse.
What children and young people think should happen when families separate
I released a report this week on my recent consultations with South Australian children and young people on what they think should happen when families separate. This is the third report in recent weeks on children’s voices in the family law system.
Place and Space: Planning for the future with young people
Sometimes I get to the end of the week and realise that a theme has emerged that maybe I didn’t predict at the beginning. This has been one of those weeks and the theme has been public spaces and in particular the places where young people hang out. My office is currently working on a project asking young people what they think would make our city a more welcoming place for young people.
From vulnerable or dangerous to contributors and reformers
Earlier this week, I spoke to a group of risk management people about diversity and how risk management is coping with it. Some might consider this a left field topic for me to speak on, and others may be questioning my connection to diversity or risk.
Meaningful engagement with young people on how to respond to drug issues in Australia is critical
We all want a South Australia where children are nurtured and protected to help them thrive and become well-rounded and successful individuals contributing to the success of our State. But why do we — and I mean us adults — keep making the same mistakes over and over again?
We need to support the whole family when tackling truancy
All of us would agree that education is vitally important for our children and young people’s future outcomes. It’s also true that good attendance at school is directly linked to good results.