Commission for Children and Young People Strategic Plan 2014-16
OUR VISION
Victorian children: seen and heard – safe and well
OUR MISSION
Improving young lives
OBJECTIVES
To promote continuous improvement and innovation in policies and practices relating to the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children and young people
and children and young people generally; and in the provision of out of home care services for children.
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KEY OUTCOMES
Victoria’s children and young people benefit from improved and innovative
policies and practices
GUIDNG PRINCIPLES
REGARDING
VULNERABILITY
The Commission for Children and Young People Act 2012 provides a specific definition of ‘vulnerable children and young persons’ in section 5 which includes children known to child
protection, youth justice clients and those who have received services from a registered community service. For ease of reference and consistent with the Commission’s broad mandate,
the use of the term ‘vulnerable’ in this Plan includes those within section 5 as well as children and young people who are Aboriginal, from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds,
in immigration detention, in adult prison, who have a disability, health or mental health issue(s), amongst others. There is recognition that all children and young people have a degree of
vulnerability resulting from their age and developmental stage
The Victorian community is engaged in the
safety and well-being of all children and young
people
The Commission conducts its activities in the best
interests of children and young people
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OUR STRATEGIC
PRIORITIES
Strategic Priority One
Strategic Priority Two
Strategic Priority Three
Strategic Priority Four
Strategic Priority Five
Strategic Priority Six
Actively engage with
children and young people
throughout Victoria to
ensure their safety and
well-being concerns are
addressed
Promoting continuous improvement
and innovation in policy and
practice approaches relevant to
improving the lives of all children
and young people through
engagement with the community,
government departments and
community sector organisations
Achieving improved safety and
well-being outcomes for
Aboriginal children and young
people
Providing independent
oversight of the
implementation of
Victoria’s Vulnerable
Children: Our Shared
Responsibility Strategy
2013-22
Providing independent
oversight of Victoria’s
protection arrangements
for vulnerable children
and young people
Maximising our operating
effectiveness through the
best use of our resource
capabilities to ensure the
achievement of our
statutory obligations and
strategic priorities
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WHAT WILL WE DO
 Educate and encourage
government departments
and agencies to actively
engage with children and
young people to better
inform the development
of legislation, policy and
practices
 Identify and share current and
emerging trends, policy and
learnings from Commission child
death and other inquiries into the
provision of health, human or
educational services to enhance
child protection, safety and
wellbeing
 Monitor, analyse and report
on the over-representation of
Aboriginal children and
young people in statutory
care and the obligation to
keep these children
connected to their families,
community and culture
 Monitor, analyse and
report on the
implementation and
effectiveness of the
Victoria’s Vulnerable
Children: Our Shared
Responsibility Strategy
2013-22
 Encourage organisations
to adopt a child-safe and
child-rights centred
approach
 Promote awareness throughout
the Victorian community on
issues that affect children and
young people who are vulnerable
or at risk of becoming vulnerable
 Operate as a key advocate
on behalf of Aboriginal
children and young people
throughout Victoria with the
aim of safeguarding their
rights, needs and interests
and achieving improved
outcomes in their life
 Monitor, analyse and
report on the
implementation and
effectiveness of other
relevant government
strategies and reforms
relating to the safety
and wellbeing of
 Create opportunities to
hear the voices of all
Victorian children and
 Promote a culture across
government departments and
 Monitor, analyse and
report on the
performance of
government
departments and
community sector
organisations in relation
to achieving
measurable
improvements in the
quality of care and
custodial services
delivered to children
and young people in
their care and/or who
are recipients of their
 Ensure the operation of
effective, fair and
transparent
governance
arrangements
 Implement a data
management
framework to create an
information-rich
Commission and
support an evidencebased approach and
ensure all our key
stakeholders have
access to accurate and
April 2014
young people
 Connect with children
and young people in
residential care, foster
care, kinship care,
permanent care, Secure
Welfare Services, youth
justice, adult prison and
in immigration detention
 Reflect the views,
opinions and aspirations
of children and young
people and encourage
and support government
departments and
agencies to do the same
 Oversee the
independent community
visitors program in youth
justice facilities and
establish a Kooriespecific visitor program
 Implement independent
community visitor
programs for the
residential care system
and Secure Welfare
Services
 Connect Aboriginal
young people in out of
home care with other
Aboriginal young people
and focus on ways to
hear the voices of Koorie
children and young
people
community sector organisations
of prevention and early
intervention within Victoria’s care
and custodial system in relation
to safeguarding the interests of
children and young people
 Promote the rights of children
and young people by advocating
for legislative,policy, institutional
and practice reforms that will
support improvements in the
safety, security and well-being of
all children and young people
throughout Victoria including
improved outcomes for
vulnerable children and young
people
 Identify opportunities to develop
research and other partnership
agreements between the
Commission and external
agencies/institutes/bodies that
would serve to increase the
Commission’s ability to advocate
for changes that would have a
beneficial impact on children and
young people
 Work in partnership with key
government departments and
agencies (particularly the
Departments of Education and
Early Childhood Development,
Health, Human Services, Justice,
Victoria Police and Public
Transport Victoria), and
community sector organisations
to promote child-safe and childfriendly policies and practices in
all areas of their service
provision
 Conduct, as legislatively
required, a review of the
administration of the Working
with Children Act 2005
 Lead and contribute to
collaborative work with other
Children’s Commissioners and
Guardians
experience. In particular, by
monitoring Victorian
government policies and
practices and contributing to
legislative and policy
improvements across areas
such as the:
 Five year out of home
care plan and the
complementary five year
plan for Aboriginal
children (Dept of Human
Services)
 Human Services
Aboriginal Strategic
Framework (Dept of Human
Services)
 Victorian Aboriginal
Affairs Framework (Office
of Aboriginal Affairs Victoria)
 Koolin Balit (Dept of Health)
 Koorie Alcohol Action
Plan (Dept of Health)
 Koorie Education Plan
(under development)
(Department of Education and
Early Childhood Development)
 Aboriginal Justice
Agreement (Dept of Justice)
 10 Year Family Violence
Strategy (Office of Aboriginal
Affairs Victoria)
 Aboriginal Inclusion
Framework (Office of
Aboriginal Affairs Victoria)
vulnerable children and
young people

services
 Conduct inquiries
concerning the death of
Child Protection clients
 Conduct inquiries
concerning a vulnerable
child or young person or
a group of vulnerable
children and young
people
 Conduct inquiries
concerning the
provision of services to
children and young
people
 Facilitate a continuous
improvement and
knowledge transfer
approach which focuses
on incorporating current
and emerging trends
and the lessons learnt
with respect to service
provision for vulnerable
children and young
people.
timely information
 Ensure the operation of
safe systems of work
which support staff
health and well-being
 Develop a Koorie
inclusion action plan to
promote reconciliation
and the inclusion of
Aboriginal people in all
Commission business
 Identify opportunities to
develop research and
other partnership
relationships between
the Commission and
external
agencies/institutes/bodi
es that would serve to
increase the
Commission’s ability to
advocate for changes
that would have a
beneficial impact on
children and young
people
 Ensure that the
processes and practices
relating to child death
inquiries, ‘own motion’
and other inquiries
promote improved
outcomes for vulnerable
children and young
people
 Monitor and promote the
inclusion of Aboriginal
children and young people in
government and community
sector programs, policies
and reforms, including the:
 Victorian State Disability
Plan 2013-16 (Dept of
Human Services)
 Victorian Homelessness
Action Plan and Social
Housing Plan (under
development) (Dept of
Human Services)
 Services Connect and
Service Sector Reform
(Dept of Human Services)
 Monitor, analyse and
report publicly on the
level and effectiveness
of stakeholder
engagement with
respect to implementing
the recommendations
made by the
Commission and/or its
Commission Review
Committee which seek
to address systemic
issues impacting the
quality of care/custodial
services provided to
children and young
people
 Advocate for the
strengthening of the
Aboriginal communitycontrolled service sector
 Monitor, analyse and
report on the
implementation of the
proposed Victorian
April 2014
which promotes community
and culturally-aligned
support services that seek to
achieve improved outcomes
for Aboriginal children and
young people
Government Five Year
Plan for children in Out
of Home Care
 Establish a Koorie-specific
community visitor program
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HOW WE WILL DELIVER
Outcomes Focussed
Our Independence
Influencing
Participation
Partnerships
Promotion
OUR PRIORITIES
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Listening and advocating
OUR VALUES
Responsiveness
Integrity
Being independent and accountable
Impartiality
Accountability
Respect
Leadership
Human Rights
April 2014