The Australian Child Wellbeing Project (ACWP) is a new child-centred study in which young Australian’s perspectives are being used to design and conduct Australia’s first major nationally representative and internationally comparable survey of wellbeing among children and adolescents aged 8-14 years. Particular attention is given to understanding the perspectives of six groups of young people with specific experiences and needs that may have a bearing on their wellbeing: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, culturally and linguistically diverse young people, young people with disability, young people in regional and remote Australia, economically disadvantaged young people, and young people in out-of-home care.
The survey aims to benchmark child wellbeing in Australia and provide information that contributes to the development of effective services for young people’s healthy development.
The National Child Wellbeing Symposium will explore key policy challenges in promoting wellbeing among young people in Australia and will focus on the issues raised by the findings from this National Australian survey of over 5,400 young people aged 9–14 years.
Date: Thursday 25 February 2016
Time: 9.00am–4.30pm
Venue: National Convention Centre, 31 Constitution Avenue, Canberra
National Children’s Commissioner, Ms Megan Mitchell, will launch the final Australia Child Wellbeing Project (AWCP) report and database at the Symposium. Panellists on the day include: Project leaders Associate Professor Gerry Redmond (Flinders University), Dr Jen Skattebol and Professor Peter Saunders (Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW), and partner investigators Dr Petra Lietz and Dr Sue Thomson (Australian Council for Educational Research). They will be joined by colleagues Dr Cassandra Goldie (CEO, Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)), and our very own Commission Chair, Professor George Patton (Director of Adolescent Health Research, Royal Children’s Hospital) and other researchers and practitioners.