9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 1/8

The Commissioners’ communiqué provides regular updates on the work of the Principal Commissioner Cheryl Vardon, Commissioner

Phillip Brooks and the QFCC, including latest news, events and industry updates.

Subscribe to the communiqué

On the road with the Commissioners

With NationalReconciliation Weekhaving recently concludedon June 3, we couldn'thave picked a better time

Having trouble viewing this email? View Online

Welcome to the July 2018 edition of the

Queensland Family & Child Commission communiqué.

Commissioners meet in Canberra

9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 2/8

to be in Canberra meetingwith members of theIndigenous Affairs Groupwithin the Department ofPrime Minister and Cabinetand representatives of theDepartment of SocialServices.

Commissioner PhillipBrooks and I jumped at theopportunity to learn abouta range of initiatives beingrolled out across thecountry and we certainlyused the time to showcasethe Queensland Familyand ChildrenCommission’s (QFCC)flagship projects for 2018.This was a fantasticopportunity to discuss ourshared interests to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their families inQueensland. Many thanks to our hosts for the robust conversations and we look forward tocollaborating in the future.

Friday 16 March saw theQFCC join forces with theDepartment of Educationand the State Library ofQueensland as we stoodunited together asorganisations, ascommunity members andas advocates againstbullying on what is theNational Day of Actionagainst Bullying andViolence.

The Department ofEducation and the StateLibrary of Queensland hosted a fantastic event for secondary students, providing a powerfulmessage – Let’s take a stand together and take action against all forms of bullying and violence.We commend the State Library of Queensland for their event, bringing awareness on this positiveday of action to addressing such an important cause.

Event visitors were also keen to hear about the work the QFCC is doing with young people,including our Out of the Dark initiative and Growing up in Queensland survey.

On Tuesday 15 andWednesday 16 May,Commissioner PhillipBrooks and I weredelighted to attend theAustralian Children's

National Day against Bullying

Australian Children's Commissioners and Guardians in Perth

9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 3/8

Commissioners andGuardians (ACCG)meeting in Perth, hostedby the Commissioner forChildren and Young People(Western Australia).

The ACCG meeting is apowerful joining of minds,with all national, state andterritory children'sCommissioners, Guardiansand Advocates attendingthe meeting. During thetwo days, the membersofficially welcomed theNew ZealandCommissioner for Children,Judge Andrew Becroft, asa full member of the group.

Jurisdictions aside, the meeting allowed members to collaborate, share information and learnabout some of the challenges and opportunities facing young people. The group spoke on a broadrange of issues including child protection, youth justice, family law, child rights, child injury andtransitions for employment for young people.

One of the things I amincredibly passionate aboutis women in leadership. OnFriday 18 May, I washonoured to speak at thethird Women in LeadershipRoadshow at the UQBusiness School inBrisbane.

The Public Sector Networkhosted the event and theagenda was jam-packedwith talented women fromacross the State sharingtheir individual journey andexperiences while touchingon the very topical themeof gender equality in theworkplace today. It was agreat opportunity to sharemy experiences, discussthe challenges we’ve faced over the years and the questions we should be raising in the future. Itwas interesting to gain an insight into the many and varied journeys we’ve all taken in our careers.I look forward to seeing what the future holds for women in the workplace.

What's New

Women in Leadership Roadshow

Youth Advisory Council

9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 4/8

One of the biggest highlights for me in themonth of May was seeing the inaugural YouthAdvisory Council meeting kick off,complemented by such a great breadth oftalent. It was a pleasure to host this inauguralmeeting where we welcomed ten youthchampions, who, moving forward will leadprojects, provide advice and be the voices ofchildren and young people, helping toinfluence the QFCC’s work. Aged between 14-25 years, the members come from all walks of life with strong representationacross regional and metropolitan areas of Queensland. The QFCC values the voices andperspectives of young people in shaping government advice, policy and programs and we lookforward to their valuable contribution. The Youth Advisory Council model is an example of true youth participation from the grassrootsup, ensuring that the policies and programs developed by Governments are started with youth atthe forefront. Several members have already been working with us on the Growing up in Queensland project.Many thanks to Taz Clay and Annika David who recently travelled with us to regional centres tohost focus groups. For more information visit: https://bit.ly/2IgIA17

Early in June, the QFCC launched theTravelling the Reform Roadmap initiatives,highlighting significant milestones andachievements reached under the SupportingFamilies Changing Future reforms. The Queensland Child Protection Commissionof Inquiry was established in 2012 to reviewthe Queensland child protection system. In2014, recommendations were provided to theQueensland Government and a 10-yearroadmap was established. I can hardly believe that we are nearing thehalf-way point in delivering these reforms. It istimely to pause and reflect on just how farwe've come and to look at all theachievements made through the child and family support sector's hard work. To mark the milestone, we have teamed up with sector partners to create some short videos totalk about their experiences to date and their vision for the future. To view the videos, visitwww.qfcc.qld.gov.au/thejourney

Collaboration is the new competition! We allknow that working together achieves betterresults and that’s exactly what we are seeingwhen collaborating closely with our sectorstakeholders. The QFCC has been workingwith Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderCommunity Controlled Organisations to helpshape a more sustainable child and familysupport system. Stakeholders from regulatoryand peak bodies and across government

Travelling the Reform Roadmap

Community Controlled Organisations meet

9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 5/8

came together for a workshop recently, hostedby QFCC and the Public Service Commission.

The QFCC is proud to partner with Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander Community HealthService Brisbane to offer a range ofscholarships to support Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander people to reach their goals. The Young, Black and Proud Scholarshipprogram celebrates the talents and strengthsof young people under the age of 25 from allaround Queensland in the categories of sport,education and the arts. The scholarships received an outstandingnumber of nominations with around 200 youngpeople applying. The talent within thesenominations is inspiring and I look forward tosharing their stories with you over the comingweeks. Visit the website to learn more.

On Tuesday 5 June, we launched the nextphase of the QFCC’s Talking Familiescampaign, which aims to encourage parents totalk openly about the stresses of raisingchildren. We know that mental health, financial worries,disability and relationship breakdowns cancontribute to parental stress. I firmly believeit’s important that parents know they don’talways need to put on a brave face and it’s OKto talk about problems and ask for help. Our research has shown many families arereluctant to share their fears and concerns

First Australian Transitions Project

QFCC delivers next phase of Talking Families Campaign

9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 6/8

with others, even though there is a lot ofsupport available. We have some helpful hintsavailable at talkingfamilies.qld.gov.au abouthow to start the conversation with parentsfinding it tough. On the same day the Sunshine Coast’sChancellor Park College also became the firstTalking Families School in Queensland. Thepilot program will provide opportunitiesthrough events, support groups and resourcesfor the school’s parents and families toconnect and support each other. If successful,we’ll look to roll-out the program more broadly. For detailed findings from the QFCC researchinto family and parental stress and a technicalreport, https://www.qfcc.qld.gov.au/talking-families-research-report

The Growing up in Queensland project is welland truly underway and the QFCC hasreceived some incredible feedback from youngpeople from around the state. Since the project was launched in March, theQFCC has hosted over 50 focus groups,meeting with over 800 young people, incommunities across North Queensland,Central Queensland, Darling Downs, SunshineCoast, Scenic Rim and Brisbane. We’ve alsoseen over 2000 young people log on andcomplete a survey to have their say about what matters most in their lives and we’ve learned a lotabout the issues which concern them and the opportunities they have or want. There’s still time forall children aged 13-18 to have their say through the online survey at https://e-hub.engagementhub.com.au/

Significant events on the QFCC calendar

Many thanks to everyone whoattended the first QFCC RegionalRoundtable event on youthhomelessness at the Sunshine Coastin April. It was a great opportunity tomeet with government departments,community groups and leadingresearchers to hear the latest dataand also discuss ways to worktogether at a local level to address thisissue facing too many young people. Itwas also an honour to meet TheHonourable Margaret White AO,Sunshine Coast Mayor MarkJamieson and USC Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)Professor Roland De Marco.

Growing up in Queensland

Research into Practice

9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 7/8

In my next Communique, you will behearing about the fifth Research in theRound event, a QFCC event held onThursday 7 June in Townsville. Thiswill be the second with an Indigenousfocus with the theme Family Wellbeingand Loss of Identity. Leading researchers includingUniversity of Melbourne Director of theIndigenous Health Equity UnitProfessor Kerry Arabena, James CookUniversity Indigenous Health lead DrLynore Geia and James CookUniversity Indigenous Student SupportOfficer Mrs Dorothy Savage allpresented at the forum. For moreinformation visithttps://bit.ly/2qEMYfs

The QFCC and CSIA partnered on 29 May at theState Library in Brisbane to host the IndustryLeadership Forum, sharing ideas for a successfulcommunity services industry.

I was very pleased to speak at the event, along withthe CSIA’s CEO Belinda Drew and IndustryDevelopment Officer Matthew Gillett. It was a greatopportunity to meet leaders and talk about thesupport our partnership is delivering to help theindustry thrive, including findings from research intothe organisational performance in the child protectionsector.

I look forward to being able to keep you updated onour progress.

Stay in touch with the latest from the QFCC:

Facebook - www.facebook.com/keepkidssafeqldYouTube - www.youtube.com/c/QueenslandFamilyandChildCommissionTwitter - www.twitter.com/keepkidssafeqldInstagram - www.instagram.com/keepkidssafeqldLinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-vardon-23453621/Talking Families Facebook - www.facebook.com/talkingfamiliesqld

CSIA and QFCC gathers leaders for Forum

9/18/2018 Auto. Template 5

https://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=1392428&a=53111&k=FTbL63iGFW-sRH5Rm1-n24a2W1ahmrqqgaLKAZeTMWY 8/8

Level 22, 53 Albert Street, BRISBANE QLD 4000 Telephone: (07) 3900 6075

Email: media@qfcc.qld.gov.au