Date: 4 November 2023

Time: 10 am to 11:30 am

Place: face-to-face at the CREATE Office, corner of Cooyong Street and Scotts Crossing, Canberra City

Register by: 1 November 2023

This session is for: children younger than 12 years old who are or have been involved with child protection in the ACT.

This session will cover: changes to laws so we can help kids in a better way.

Registrations for this workshop have closed.

We are changing some rules so we can help kids in a better way. These rules are also called laws.

These rules are for kids aged zero to 18 years old.

One of the rules is about making sure kids can have their say and be listened to.

It will mean we have to ask you about choices we need to make about you and your life so we can keep you safe.

We want to know how you want us to ask you about these choices.

If you are or have been involved with child protection in the ACT, come to our workshop to tell us what you think. We'll have fun art activities for you to do.

We will take some notes of what you tell us, but we will not use your name or anything else that would identify you. This means no one will know who you are when we write our report about the workshop.

To say thank you, we will give you a group movie pass.

If you need help

We know it can be hard to talk about things that have happened in your life. This will be a safe place and there will be people there to help you if it is hard.

If you don’t want to tell us something, you don’t have to. You decide what you want to tell us.

You can also get help after if you want to talk about how you are feeling. This could be with a family member, carer, your case manager or someone else you trust.

For this workshop, we ask an adult to come with the child.

You will not be asked to participate, but to be there for extra support if the child needs it. Tea and coffee will be provided.

We will also have people there to support the children if they need it. We will encourage them to speak with people they trust if they need help after the workshop. This might be you, a case manager or someone else important in their life.

Consent forms will be provided on the day asking for your permission for the child to participate.

This consent form will cover use of:

• the child's de-identified words
• the child's feedback
• photos of the child's artworks.

We will ensure the protection of the child's information if we use it in future publications.

We want to talk to children about three main things:

• What family means to them?
• How they like to join in on things?
• How they like to learn about big things?

Children will be asked to tell us what they think by making some artworks. They can also tell us things by talking with us if they like.

Children will be able to take their artworks home. We would like to take a photo of the artworks first if that is ok with the child and you give your consent.

If you and the child needs transport to the workshop, please contact us by emailing CYPAct@act.gov.au. We can organise transport for you.

Adults can have their say on the proposed changes through the public consultation at Changing the Children and Young People Act 2008 – Stage 2.