Children young people and the NDIS-Centre for Children and Young People

CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE NDISWhat young people tell us about belonging and connection, and about safety

What is this talk about?

This talk is about some of the important things that children and young people have told us in the last three years. The things I will talk about come from 3 research projects:

• Photo research about belonging and connection • Research about being safe at school• Research about abuse and neglect

What did we learn? • It’s very important to young people that others see the things they are

good at • Relationships are so important • It is often very hard to be heard, especially when things go wrong• Violence and abuse make it hard to feel like you belong• We need to be safe, not just fix up abuse

Chillin’ with Jasmin. By Sarah

What is belonging? When you feel like you belong, you feel:• Comfortable

• Safe

• People are glad to have you there

• People can see all the things you can do

• Like it’s your place

• Like you fit in

• People think you’re a good person

• You would be missed if you weren’t there

Luke. By John.

What is being connected to other people? When you feel connected to other people, you feel:• Supported, and that you give support to others too

• That other people really know you

• Like you understand other people and

they understand you

A day at Currumbin. By Sarah.

What helps you feel like you belong?

• Feeling safe and comfortable.

• Being respected.

• Being valued.

• Being known.

• Having fun.

• Having support in transition times.

I feel happy and relaxed when I play my guitar at home. By Ellyse

What makes it hard? • Not having enough to do

• Feeling like you don’t fit in

• Feeling like people don’t respect you

• Problems with friends or in your family

I can’t use the stairs. I go up in the elevator. By Adam

What makes it hard?• Feeling lonely

• Feeling really sad (and you can’t get help you with it)

• Feeling unsafe

• Being hurt by other people (and you can’t get help)

• Feeling like no-one really knows you or understands you

Unwanted support. By Jums

How can we make this better? • We can see young people as people first. Disability is just one part

of a person.

• We can see all the ways that young people support their families, friends and workers, as well as being cared for by other people.

Taking photos. By Bradley.

How can we make this better? • We can teach support workers to respect people, get to know them

and understand them.

• Having control over choices really matters.

• We can make sure that young people have a choice about getting to do their own thing and also being part of a group.

Enjoying the ride. By Monique

How can we make this better? • Lots of people said they were lonely. They could use some help to be

happier and less lonely.

• Quite a lot of people had sad or bad things happen to them. It was hard for them to get over these things, because they did not have a lot of help with this. We need to make sure they get this help.

Harm in schools

When harm occurred, students and families said it really helped them when:

• Teachers believed students, listened and sorted things out quickly. • Families were treated seriously and courteously, and kept informed

about progress. • School leaders showed that safety of students mattered to them.

BUT…

Students said• Harm happened a lot • Teachers didn’t do enough to protect them• They didn’t feel able to tell, or like people listened to them

Families said • Schools were very hard to deal with

People working in schools said• It was getting harder to help

What can NDIS learn from kids’ experience of harm in schools?

• In education, there are a lot of resources, and a lot of policies and practice guides to help people know how to do their job.

• There are good laws.

• Very few people knew about any of it. The ones who did had a lot of trouble using laws and policies.

• NDIS needs to learn from this and make the new systems work better than this.

Safeguards – rules or relationships?

• A safeguard is something that guards, or protects, or keeps safe.

• The NDIS needs to have safeguards to make sure that kids (and adults) with disability are safe.

BUT• We need to make sure that a safeguards system listens to what matters to people with disability.

What does research say protects people?

•Risk reduces when people with disability matter in everyday life. When they have

- Connections with other people - They feel they belong- They have a voice, and someone to hear it and act on it

•If they use services, they have - Well supported, resourced and trained workers in - Open cultured organisations which respond effectively and

appropriately to harm

Research about safeguards – what works?

• Focus on prevention• Build capacity to speak about harm and have concerns

heard and responded to• Education and training • Engage bystanders• Weave safeguarding approaches into all major policies

that impact on people with disability

Capacity building

• At a range of levels:• Individual • Systems • Communities

Do you want to know more?

• You can see some of the photos on a website that is part of the project:

www.belonging.net.au

• You can talk to Sally Robinson, the lead researcher: Phone 02 6620 3134 Email sally.robinson@scu.edu.au