2002-03 Annual Report 02:03NSW Commission for Children and Young People 2
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TOGETHER MAKING NSW A BETTER PLACE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE 2002-03 Annual Report 02:03NSW Commission for Children and Young People 2 About the Commission The NSW Commission for Children and Young People is an independent organisation :02:set up 03in 1999 to advocate for the children and young people of NSW. The Commission aims to influence and initiate broad, positive change through: • researching and monitoring trends into children’s welfare, safety and well-being; • advising government and non-government agencies; • informing and educating children, the community and professionals; • conducting inquiries into issues important to children; and • implementing and monitoring the Working With Children Check to help make workplaces safe for children. In 2002-03, the Commission: • employed an average of 34 full-time equivalent staff; • spent $6.105 million on operating costs, an increase of 14% from 2001-02. The increased expenditure was mainly due to one-off funding for special projects; and • received advice on our direction and work from an eight member Expert Advisory Committee and a Young People’s Reference Group made up of 12 children and young people from around NSW. 3 Contents The Hon Dr Meredith Burgmann MLC President Legislative Council Chapter 1: Parliament House SYDNEY NSW 2000 Introducing the Commission for Children and Young People Our vision and guiding principles 6 The Hon John Aquilina MP Our role and functions 6 Speaker Commissioner’s message 7 Legislative Assembly Our stakeholders and history 8 Parliament House Our structure and staff 9 SYDNEY NSW 2000 How we use our funding 9 Kids in NSW: a snapshot 10 Dear Madam President and Mr Speaker Chapter 2: Our results - a summary Summary of key activities for 2002-03 11 In accordance with section 23 of the Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998, I am pleased to present the Chapter 3: Commission’s annual report for the 2002-03 financial year. Building participation The annual report has been prepared in accordance with the Our activities to build participation for children Annual Reports (Departments) Act 1985 (as modified by the and young people 15 Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998) and the Chapter 4: Public Finance and Audit Act 1983. Improving safety and welfare As provided by section 26 of the Commission for Children and Our activities to improve safety and welfare for Young People Act 1998, I hereby request that you make this children and young people 25 report public forthwith. Chapter 5: Strengthening well-being Yours sincerely Our activities to strengthen well-being for children and young people 37 Chapter 6: Influencing on children and young people’s issues Our activities to influence on children and young people’s issues 43 Gillian Calvert Commissioner Chapter 7: Being an accountable and effective organisation Our activities to be an accountable and effective organisation 49 Chapter 8: Our finances 57 Chapter 9: Additional statutory requirements 75 4 Researching issues that affect children and young people: • Published research in January 2003 into the Suicide and Risk-Taking Deaths of Children and Young People, page 34. • Started studies to investigate the sudden unexpected deaths of infants, the fatal assault and neglect of children and young people, and young people’s experiences of work, page 35. Making workplaces safer for children and young people: • Coordinated background checks of more than 265,000 people to reduce the risk of unsuitable people working with kids, page 28. • Started a project to help organisations with volunteers and tertiary students on placement to make their workplace safer and friendlier for kids, page 32. : The Commission’s: activities in 2002-03: 02Raising public awareness03 of issues that affect children and young people: • Worked to raise community awareness about new laws on the physical punishment of children, page 32. • Published the Report of the Inquiry into the best means of assisting children and young people with no-one to turn to, page 33. • Told the stories of children and young people living in Australian immigration detention centres, page 18. Influencing decision-makers about issues that affect children and young people: • Advocated on behalf of kids at a national, state and community level on issues such as age of consent laws, transport safety, and the education of children in care, page 46. • Worked collaboratively with the Queensland Commission for Children and Young People to start to develop a National Policy Framework on the Early Years, page 40. Providing opportunities for kids to speak up and get involved: • Helped young people develop the skills and confidence to speak up on issues that are important to them, page 20. • Helped young people get involved in the NSW Childhood Obesity Summit, page 16. Helping individuals and organisations involve children and young people better: • Started developing new resources to help people involve kids better in research and individual case-planning, page 22. • Trialled a tool to help organisations assess how well they are involving children and young people in their work, page 22. Creating educational and professional development opportunities: • Conducted four seminars about the early development of children, page 41. • Conducted two research forums about child protection and domestic violence and fatal assaults of children and young people, page 41. 5 Introducing the NSW Commission for Children and Young People Chp:01 6 Our vision Together making NSW a better place for all children and young people Our guiding principles :02:03Guided by the principles of the Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998 we: • make the safety, welfare and well-being of children our paramount consideration; • listen to children and young people, take their views seriously and promote their interests; • believe strong relationships between children and families and communities are important; • focus on things that make a positive difference to children and young people, giving priority to vulnerable children and young people; • work cooperatively with other agencies and organisations to achieve our goals; and • work with openness, integrity and fairness in an accountable way. Our role and functions: The Commission promotes the safety, welfare and well-being of children and young people in NSW. The work of the Commission comprises seven main areas: • holding inquiries, or investigations, into important questions about issues relating to children and young people; • making recommendations to Parliament, government and non-government agencies on legislation, policies, practices and services that affect children and young people; • providing information to help children and young people and people who work with them; • researching and monitoring issues that affect children and young people; • promoting, conducting and monitoring training for adults who work with children and young people and developing programs specifically for children and young people; • implementing and monitoring laws to check a person’s background to determine their suitability to work with children and young people; and • managing a voluntary accreditation system for counsellors and therapists who work with people who have committed sexual offences against children. The Commission does not have the powers to examine individual complaints about unfair, illegal or improper conduct relating to children. Individual grievances by children and young people can be referred to other bodies such as the Ombudsman, Health Care Complaints Commission or Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation. 7 The Commissioner’s message There have been both achievements and challenges for the Commission in the past year. The work that the Commission has employers, government and others in the completed in the past 12 months community. continues to build on our earliest work As a community, we need to be mindful around children and young people’s of the impact that adult decisions can safety and well-being. For instance, we have on the 1.6 million children and have strengthened the Working With young people who live in NSW. Recently, Children legislation and are piloting the changes to child-related employment ‘Volunteers and Students’ program to policy and legislation were proposed. The assist organisations with volunteers and debate has centred on what level of students on placement to make their scrutiny is appropriate when considering organisations safer. harmful behaviour towards children in We have also published a report into workplaces. Suicide and Risk-taking Deaths of Children We need to refine systems so they don’t and Young People and the results of our unfairly disadvantage people who are Inquiry into the best means of assisting doing the right thing by children, but not children and young people with no-one at the expense of undoing the to turn to. These reports contain protections that have arisen from learning important messages for the whole the difficult lessons of the past. community about ways we can work together to keep kids safe from harm and My staff and I look forward to continuing promote their well-being. to work hard to make NSW a better place for children and young people and Our mandate is to be an independent provide leadership on issues important to voice for kids. This means helping kids them. become involved in setting directions. We talk with kids to find out their views We are pleased to present our fourth and bring them to the decision-making annual report and look forward to table. We also help others to involve kids continuing the important work Parliament so they can speak for themselves and has set us. make a difference about things that matter to them. Our independence is our strength. This helps us remain focused on positive outcomes for children and young people Gillian Calvert when we work with parents, schools, Commissioner 8 Our history The Commission was established in June 1999 by an Act of Parliament which had bipartisan support. Gillian Calvert was appointed as the first Commissioner.