Project status: Closed

We have adjusted our approach based on your feedback. Read what we heard in our listening report and find out what we are doing now.

How you had YourSay

Consultation on stage 2 changes to the Children and Young People Act 2008 has closed.

We asked you to share your views about the proposed changes through written submissions. We wanted to know:

  • Will the proposed changes deliver the intended purpose of the reforms?
  • What will you need, as someone impacted by the changes, to prepare for and put them into your practice?
  • What opportunities or potential risks do you see for your sector in performing these changes as part of your practice?

Our information paper and additional resources from the document library helped you to frame your submissions.

The topics covered in the information paper were:

  • The legislative framework: Guiding principles
  • Promoting a shared responsibility for child protection
  • Earlier support with the statutory system
  • Care and protection orders: Better and more accountable case management
  • Keeping children and young people in out of home care safe and connected
  • External merits review.

In addition to written submissions, we also ran targeted activities to hear directly from different groups impacted by these changes.

You can read about what we heard from you through our consultations in our listening report.

  • Make a submission: Closed

    You told us your views about the proposed legislative changes and what support you will need to effectively put them into your practice.

Workshops: Closed

Thank you everyone who came to our workshops and told us what you thought. We held 3 workshops and the information we heard is helping us to finalise the Amendment Bill. You can read about what the workshops covered from the links below.

  • Technical workshop

    A discussion on the technical details of the proposed changes.

    More info 

  • Children younger than 12 years old

    A session with younger children who have been involved with child protection.

    More info 

  • Young people aged 12 to 25 years old

    A session with young people who have been involved with child protection.

    More info 

What we looked at

The ACT Government is reforming child, youth and family services to ensure we strengthen families and keep children and young people safe and connected. Legislative change is one part of this plan for reform.

The ACT Government made a commitment to establish a responsive, high-functioning legal framework for the ACT's child protection and family support system. This reform will align the Children and Young People Act 2008 (the CYP Act) with Next Steps for Our Kids 2022–2030 – the ACT’s strategy for strengthening families and keeping children and young people safe. It will also address recommendations from key reviews and reports regarding the ACT's child protection and family support system requiring legislative change.

Modernising the CYP Act will lead to reform of the child protection and family support system.

Due to the complexity of this reform, legislative amendments happened in 2 stages:

  • About the CYP Act reforms

    Find out more about these important legislative reforms, including why they are needed, what they aim to achieve and what has informed them.

    Learn more about these reforms 

How we have used your views

We heard overall support for the proposed stage 2 changes. But we also heard you want more detail about some changes and more consultation. This is to make sure we get the detail right before new legislation begins.

We have listened and have adjusted how we will do this work.

Find out about the revised stage 2 and our next steps at Changing the Children and Young People Act 2008 – Stage 2 new approach.