schedule details

Event Agenda

Join us for a comprehensive multi-day program exploring the future of child protection. The agenda includes a pre-conference day, two full days of forum sessions, and post-conference workshops featuring keynote presentations from sector leaders, practical case studies, and evidence-informed insights into prevention, system reform, and cross-sector collaboration to strengthen outcomes for children and families.

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:40 AM Welcome to Country

8:50 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Addressing the foster care and placement crisis by strengthening family, carer and workforce support and capacity

9:00 AM Opening keynote: Reimagining child protection through a child connection system: Moving from investigation and control to relational, community-led support

Challenging the central myth of child protection by examining why large-scale statutory systems cannot deliver safety through surveillance, investigation and removal alone
Exploring an alternative child connection model that positions family, kinship, community and relational support as the primary mechanisms for child wellbeing and protection

Demonstrating how organisations and practitioners can reduce bureaucracy, prioritise relational practice and create more meaningful engagement with children and families in the current system

Identifying practical actions services and practitioners can take now to shift from compliance-driven responses toward community-led, relationship-based approaches to care and support

9:40 AM Panel discussion: Improving placement matching and support for children with complex needs to prevent placement breakdown

Strengthening child assessments to match placements based on developmental, trauma and disability needs

Implementing placement matching frameworks that prioritise relational fit and long-term stability

Integrating specialist therapeutic supports to stabilise placements for children with complex needs

Panellists:

10:20 AM Case study: Addressing the foster care and placement crisis by building culturally responsive carer systems for children, family and kin

Designing culturally responsive placement matching approaches using faith, ethnicity and language as core considerations

Implementing culturally safe carer recruitment, engagement and support strategies, including community-led approaches and co-designed messaging

Supporting carers and children where cultural matching is not possible, including the role of cultural support workers and tailored resources

Demonstrating the impact of culturally responsive care on placement stability, child wellbeing and connection to identity and community

11:00 AM Morning refreshments

11:30 AM Case study: Supporting reunification and placement stability through specialist foster care models that strengthen children, carers and families

Implementing specialist reunification foster care models that support children to safely transition home while maintaining attachment, connection and continuity of care

Strengthening foster carer capability and wellbeing through therapeutic support, reflective practice and tailored approaches such as narrative exposure therapy

Demonstrating how shared care approaches between carers, parents and services can improve reunification outcomes and reduce placement breakdown

12:10 PM Supporting Carers Through Cultural Authority, Kinship and Delegated Decision-Making in the Torres Strait

Exploring how delegated authority is strengthening outcomes for children, families and carers across the Torres Strait
Examining the role of culture, language, kinship and community relationships in supporting safe and sustainable care arrangements
Understanding how remote and island contexts influence family contact, decision-making and service delivery
Sharing practical lessons for building culturally safe systems that better support carers, families and children

12:30 PM Mindfulness and Wellness Session

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

1:50 PM Case study: Preventing placement breakdown through therapeutic, family-centred responses: Supporting children, parents and kin through repair and reconnection

Delivering integrated therapeutic support to children and families that addresses trauma, attachment and relational breakdown as the foundation for child safety

Working holistically across children, parents and kinship carers to strengthen relationships, support safe communication and reduce escalation into out-of-home care

Embedding therapeutic approaches within everyday practice, including contact visits, school engagement and coordinated case work as opportunities for repair and connection

Identifying system gaps where therapeutic support is not prioritised, and advocating for more integrated, trauma-informed responses across services and care systems

2:30 PM Panel discussion: Strengthening family capacity and early prevention through community-led playgroup models

Examining the role of playgroups as accessible, community-based platforms for early support, prevention and family engagement

Implementing family capacity-building approaches that strengthen child safety knowledge, confidence and capability within everyday settings

Demonstrating how playgroup models can contribute to integrated, wrap-around systems by acting as connectors between families, services and supports

Panellists:

Playgroup Australia – Speaker TBC*

3:10 PM Afternoon refreshments

3:50 PM Panel discussion: Supporting practitioners to make placement decisions that prioritise stability and child wellbeing

Embedding structured placement decision reviews that prioritise relational continuity

Implementing structured decision-making tools that reduce reactive placements

Aligning supervision and review processes to improve placement planning

Panellists:

4:30 PM Closing yarning circle: Embedding Aboriginal-led placement solutions to reduce over-representation and strengthen cultural connection

Strengthening Aboriginal community leadership in placement planning and decision-making

Embedding kinship and cultural connection as central considerations in placement decisions

Aligning statutory systems with Aboriginal-led care models

5:30 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of pre-conference day

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:40 AM Welcome to Country

8:50 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Understanding and responding to child safety and child protection challenges

9:00 AM Opening keynote: Reimagining foster and kinship care: Supporting and sustaining carer families to improve outcomes for children

Exploring what it would look like to properly support, resource and sustain foster, kinship, guardian and adoptive families caring for children and young people

Strengthening retention, recognition and wellbeing for carer families by listening to and valuing carers as critical partners within the child protection ecosystem

Challenging deficit-focused narratives around foster care by sharing practical examples of community, sector and systems approaches that strengthen and sustain family-based care

Demonstrating how elevating carer voice and lived experience can improve policy, practice and outcomes for children and young people in care

9:40 AM Panel discussion: Strengthening child protection responses to domestic and family violence by improving perpetrator accountability and safety planning

Recognising domestic and family violence as a primary driver of child protection involvement

Improving risk assessment and safety planning approaches that prioritise the safety of children and non-offending parents

Shifting system responses toward perpetrator accountability rather than placing responsibility on victim-survivors

Panellists:

10:20 AM Embedding child voice and shifting toward therapeutic, problem-solving approaches in child protection decision-making

Strengthening the role of child voice in court and decision-making processes, including how this is being interpreted and applied in practice

Examining the extent to which children’s participation is meaningfully influencing judicial and statutory decisions

Moving from adversarial to therapeutic approaches in child protection systems, including the role of therapeutic jurisprudence

Exploring lessons from problem-solving courts and multidisciplinary models (including international examples) and their application in the Australian context

11:00 AM Morning refreshments

11:30 AM Case study: Embedding disability-informed and rights-based approaches in child protection systems and practice

Examining the barriers children and young people with disability experience within child protection systems, including gaps in safeguarding, participation and access to appropriate supports

Strengthening child voice and rights-based approaches for children with disability in decision-making, case planning and service delivery

Exploring the intersection between disability, trauma, education and child protection systems, including the impact of fragmented and siloed responses

Demonstrating practical approaches that improve collaboration, inclusion and coordinated supports for children and families navigating multiple systems

12:10 PM Panel discussion: Aligning NDIS and child protection to prevent service gaps and disability-related entry into care

Clarifying roles and responsibilities between NDIS and child protection to reduce service gaps

Establishing coordination processes that ensure disability supports are in place before removal decisions

Developing joint case planning approaches that align statutory responses with disability service supports

Panellists:

12:30 AM Case Study: Strengthening multidisciplinary care teams across health, education and disability services to support children with different needs

Building multidisciplinary teams that coordinate responses across health, education and disability services

Implementing shared care planning approaches that address developmental, behavioural and therapeutic needs

Connecting practitioners across sectors to provide coordinated wrap-around supports for children and carers

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

1:50 PM Case study: Building organisational capability to respond to child protection, family violence and trauma: The role of disability services in multidisciplinary care

Strengthening workforce capability to respond to child protection concerns, family and domestic violence, and trauma through organisation-wide training and support

Defining scope and responsibility within multidisciplinary teams, including how disability services contribute without overstepping into statutory roles

Embedding practical tools and frameworks (such as child protection training, accidental counselling approaches, and referral pathways) to support staff in real-world situations

Demonstrating how organisational-level change can enable more effective, coordinated responses across health, education and child protection systems

2:30 PM Case study: Coordinating transitions from care to adulthood for young people with disability: Bridging child protection and NDIS systems

Designing early, coordinated transition pathways that begin well before young people exit care, including aligning child protection and NDIS supports

Implementing practice approaches that build independence and capability over time, including gradual shifts in funding, support and skill development

Demonstrating how data, assessment and cross-agency collaboration can improve access to appropriate disability supports and reduce gaps at transition

Embedding young person voice in transition planning, ensuring decisions reflect their preferences, relationships and long-term wellbeing

11:30 AM Case study: Strengthening child voice and trauma-responsive practice in child protection through clinical and forensic approaches

Embedding child voice into assessment and response processes, including principles drawn from forensic interviewing and trauma-informed practice

Recognising and responding to trauma at the point of disclosure or system entry, and why this moment is critical for long-term outcomes

Demonstrating practical approaches to supporting children to feel heard, believed and supported within complex systems

12:10 PM Case study: Supporting children as victim-survivors when contact with the person using violence continues

Supporting children as victim-survivors in their own right, including recognising the ongoing impacts of domestic and family violence beyond children being viewed solely as “witnesses” to harm

Equipping practitioners to have child-centred conversations about violence and implement safety planning approaches with children who continue to have contact with the person using violence, most often dad

Strengthening mother–child relationships before, during and after contact arrangements, including supporting children to navigate fear, loyalty, attachment and conflicting emotions within ongoing family relationships

Challenging organisational withdrawal when Family Law Court is involved and demonstrating how therapeutic, coordinated and child-centred responses can uphold children’s right to safety, support and recovery across systems

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

1:50 PM Youth-led session: Embedding youth voice into governance and service design: Moving beyond consultation to genuine co-design and shared decision-making

Establishing and sustaining Youth Councils that meaningfully contribute to organisational decision-making, service design and accountability

Embedding lived experience into practice in ways that are safe, supported and non-extractive, including participation in recruitment, policy development and service evaluation

Navigating the realities and challenges of co-design, including time, resourcing and maintaining authentic engagement with young people

Demonstrating how youth voice can influence governance structures, including emerging approaches to board engagement and organisational leadership

2:30 PM Case study: Sharing power and shaping systems by emracing lived and living experience (LLE) into decision-making and reform

Moving beyond consultation to embed LLE into organisational decision-making, advocacy and program design
Creating meaningful pathways for participation, leadership and employment for people with LLE of child and family systems
Sharing lessons, challenges and practical strategies from implementing lived experience approaches across workforce development, policy and practice
Demonstrating how LLE can strengthen service design, organisational culture and system reform efforts
Using LLE to strengthen DEI including elevating the voices of culturally and racially marginalised (CARM) communities in policy, practice and service design

3:10 PM Afternoon refreshments

Safeguarding children in a changing risk environment

3:40 PM Mindfulness and wellness session

4:00 PM Responding to online exploitation and technology-facilitated harm: Strengthening safeguarding approaches for children and young people

Examining emerging trends in online exploitation, coercion and technology-facilitated harm impacting children and young people

Strengthening safeguarding approaches across schools, services, families and community settings to better identify and respond to online risk

Exploring how practitioners, carers and systems can support children and young people to navigate digital environments more safely while maintaining trust and engagement

Demonstrating the importance of cross-sector collaboration between law enforcement, education, child protection and community services in responding to evolving forms of harm and exploitation

4:40 PM Strengthening safeguarding responses to harmful sexual behaviour through practical tools, early intervention and system-wide capability

Responding to harmful sexual behaviour in children through trauma-responsive, developmentally appropriate approaches that move beyond stigma and silence

Equipping parents, carers and practitioners with practical tools to have conversations about consent, safety and relationships in ways that build trust and reduce harm

Strengthening collaboration between families, schools and services to improve early identification, response and prevention

5:20 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of day one

8:00 AM Registration opens

8:50 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Designing a preventative and integrated child protection system

9:00 AM From dismantling to healing: Aboriginal-led approaches to reimagining child protection

Challenging punitive child protection approaches through healing, care and Aboriginal-led family preservation
Demonstrating how the Nabu Family Preservation Program keeps children safely connected to family, culture and Country
Working alongside statutory systems while advocating for systemic change and challenging policies that drive unnecessary family separation
Sharing lessons from community-led, wrap-around approaches that strengthen outcomes for Aboriginal children, families and communities

9:30 AM Case study: Strengthening community-based early intervention and youth support to prevent escalation into child protection and youth justice systems

Delivering community-based early intervention approaches that strengthen connection, engagement and protective factors for children, young people and families

Supporting young people through relationship-based and place-based responses that address underlying drivers of disengagement, risk and system involvement

Demonstrating how integrated youth, family and community supports can reduce escalation into statutory child protection and youth justice systems

Exploring the role of community organisations in building trust, social inclusion and long-term support pathways for children and young people experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage

10:00 AM Case study: Designing prevention-focused child protection systems that intervene earlier to reduce family separation

Designing early family support systems that identify emerging risks and provide assistance before statutory thresholds are reached

Developing referral pathways that enable health, education and community services to connect families with preventative supports earlier

Restructuring funding and service models to prioritise family preservation, practical supports and early intervention responses

10:30 AM Morning refreshments

10:50 AM Case study: Exploring the Pre Authorisation of the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care Program with GEGAC

11:30 AM Panel discussion: Embedding Indigenous and other cultural approaches to child protection and crises responses

Learning from Indigenous and other cultural knowledges of kinship, collective caregiving and child development

Incorporating cultural knowledge into assessment, case planning, family engagement, and crisis management

Designing responses that honour extended family and community networks and cultural connection in child protection practice

Understanding cultural safety in the context of child protection

Panellists:

12:30 AM Case Study: Supporting culturally responsive practice with CALD families to prevent cultural misinterpretation in reporting and assessment

Understanding how cultural norms around caregiving, discipline and family roles can be misinterpreted in statutory systems

Working alongside cultural leaders, interpreters and community organisations during assessment and engagement

Adapting practice approaches so cultural difference is not misidentified as neglect or risk

12:10 PM Networking luncheon

1:10 PM Case study: Embedding culturally responsive practice in child protection: Challenging misinterpretation and improving assessment for CALD and Aboriginal families

Exploring how cultural norms around caregiving, discipline and family roles can be misinterpreted within statutory systems

Working alongside cultural leaders, interpreters and community organisations to support more accurate, respectful engagement and assessment

Adapting practice to ensure cultural difference is not misidentified as neglect or risk

1:50 PM Case study: Embedding cultural governance and community-led approaches in child and family services

Strengthening prevention and early intervention through family-led safety planning, cultural healing and practical supports that keep families connected

Exploring what meaningful partnership with Aboriginal communities can look like in practice, including more culturally responsive and non-extractive ways of working

Sharing lessons from implementing culturally governed and community-led programs in collaboration with child protection and mainstream services

10:50 AM Case study: Coordinating wrap-around supports to stabilise families at risk of entering the child protection system

Responding to family crises through coordinated in-home support across housing, mental health, disability and family services

Bringing together multiple services to address complex and intersecting family needs in a practical, holistic way

Providing intensive, relationship-based support that builds parenting capacity, strengthens family functioning and reduces the likelihood of statutory involvement

11:30 AM Case study: Strengthening early intervention and cross-sector collaboration to prevent escalation into child protection systems

Examining how early intervention and family preservation approaches can reduce unnecessary escalation into statutory systems

Implementing collaborative, place-based ways of working that strengthen coordination between services and reduce fragmented responses

Demonstrating practical examples of how cross-sector collaboration can support families more effectively, including regional approaches and lessons learned

12:10 PM Networking luncheon

1:10 PM Case study: Responding at the point of crisis: Integrated, child-focused support for families experiencing domestic and family violence

Delivering integrated responses through programs such as Safe & Well Kids, including how services coordinate across housing, legal, financial, education and therapeutic supports

Supporting children as clients in their own right during crisis, including addressing safety, emotional stability and developmental needs in the immediate aftermath of violence

Demonstrating how place-based and partnership models (including hub approaches and referral pathways) can improve coordination, reduce gaps and strengthen outcomes for children and families

1:50 PM Case study: Moving Beyond Trauma-Informed Practice: Building Trauma-Responsive Systems, Services and Communities

Exploring how trauma, adversity and system fragmentation impact children, families and long-term life outcomes
Examining how multidisciplinary, wraparound and place-based approaches can create more responsive and healing-centred systems of support
Sharing practical examples of disrupting siloed and crisis-driven service models through systems thinking, collaboration and innovation
Identifying how organisations can embed relational, flexible and trauma-responsive practice into everyday service delivery to better support children and families

2:30 PM Afternoon refreshments

Supporting families, carers, and kin and communities through collaboration and early intervention

3:00 PM Sharing Power, Strengthening Families: Self-Determination, Cultural Authority and Restorative Child Protection Practice

Examining how self-determination and cultural authority can strengthen child protection decision-making and family wellbeing
Exploring how delegated authority and community-led approaches shift decision-making closer to children, families and communities
Understanding the role of language, culture and local knowledge in building trust, engagement and participation
Moving from compliance and control toward restorative, relationship-based approaches that keep children connected to family, culture and community

3:30 PM Tamariki Ora - A Tamariki-Anchored Wellbeing and Safety Model in the Oranga Tamariki/Children's Protection Context

Anchoring decisions to the child by deploying a dedicated Tamariki Ora Kaiārahi navigator and a single three-horizon plan, so tamariki stay held within one coherent protective network instead of being handed between agencies.
Stabilising safety in time-critical situations through rapid-response resourcing (24 to 72 hours) and a formalised Protective Network, to reduce harm during the developmental windows where delay compounds trauma.
Embedding tamariki voice as a design pou using tikanga-grounded, trauma-informed participation methods, so children influence decisions about their own care rather than being objects of them.
Supporting Māori self-determination over the welfare of tamariki Māori by treating iwi and community as co-designers with decision-making authority, to build a model genuinely distinct from previous partnership approaches.

4:00 PM Case study: Building family connection and adolescent capability to prevent escalation into child protection systems

Delivering school-based and community-based early intervention programs that equip young people with practical skills around healthy relationships, family violence, emotional regulation, cyber safety and help-seeking

Strengthening family relationships and reducing family breakdown through whole-family approaches that support connection, communication and shared understanding during periods of conflict and distress

Demonstrating how prevention-focused programs can support vulnerable young people before crisis escalates into statutory child protection, out-of-home care or other system involvement

Sharing lessons from implementing and scaling evidence-based prevention programs, including evaluation outcomes, train-the-trainer approaches and work with vulnerable student cohorts outside mainstream school settings

4:30 PM Shaping the future of child safety: Consultation on preventing and responding to child sexual abuse

Join representatives from the National Office for Child Safety for an interactive session designed to gather frontline insights and sector feedback to help inform the Second Action Plan under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse.

Identifying emerging risks, challenges and gaps in Australia’s response to child sexual abuse, including online harms and harmful sexual behaviours
Exploring what children, families, practitioners and communities need to better prevent and respond to abuse
Gathering sector feedback to inform the Second Action Plan under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse
Creating opportunities for practitioners and service providers to directly contribute their insights, experiences and recommendations to national reform efforts

5:00 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of conference

9:00 AM - 12:00 PMWorkshop 1: Practical methods for capturing and embedding child voice in child protection systems

This interactive workshop will explore practical and developmentally appropriate approaches for capturing, understanding and embedding child voice across child protection policy, practice and decision-making, with a focus on moving beyond tokenistic consultation toward genuine participation and influence.

This workshop will cover:

Practical tools for listening to children of different ages, abilities and communication styles

Adapting engagement approaches for children with disability, neurodivergence and trauma

Methods for capturing child voice in case planning, assessments and decision-making

Embedding child voice into policy design, service delivery and organisational governance

Moving beyond consultation to ensure children’s perspectives influence real decisions

Participants will take away:

Practical tools and approaches for engaging children in meaningful and developmentally appropriate ways

Strategies for embedding child voice into everyday practice, planning and organisational systems

Greater confidence in creating more inclusive, responsive and child-centred decision-making processes

12:00 PM Networking luncheon

1:00 PM - 4:00 PMWorkshop 2: Understanding Moral Injury and Creating Ethically Sustainable Child Protection Workplaces

This interactive workshop will explore how ethical conflict, organisational pressures and system constraints contribute to moral injury in child protection practice, while examining practical strategies for creating psychologically safe, ethically sustainable and supportive workplace cultures.

Understanding the difference between burnout, trauma and moral injury in child protection work
Exploring how ethical conflict, organisational pressures and system constraints impact practitioner wellbeing and professional identity
Recognising the role of organisational culture, leadership and psychological safety in preventing moral injury
Strengthening reflective supervision, ethical reflection and peer support structures
Identifying practical strategies for creating ethically sustainable workplaces that retain and support practitioners

Participants will take away:

A deeper understanding of moral injury and how it differs from burnout and secondary trauma
Practical strategies for supporting ethical reflection, psychological safety and practitioner wellbeing
Ideas for strengthening leadership, supervision and organisational cultures that enable sustainable child protection practice

4:00 PM End of Conference

Addressing the foster care and placement crisis by building sustainable systems for children, family, and kin

Morning Plenary

Understanding and responding to child safety and child protection challenges

Afternoon Plenary

Safeguarding Children in a Changing Risk Environment

Afternoon Plenary

Safeguarding Children in a Changing Risk Environment

Morning Plenary

Designing a Preventative and Integrated Child Protection System

Afternoon Plenary

Sharing Power with Families, Kin and Communities

Afternoon Plenary

Sharing Power with Families, Kin and Communities

9:00 AMWorkshop 1: Practical Methods for Capturing and Embedding Child Voice in Child Protection Systems

Practical tools for listening to children of different ages, abilities and communication styles

Adapting engagement approaches for children with disability, neurodivergence and trauma

Methods for capturing child voice in case planning, assessments and decision-making

Embedding child voice into policy design, service delivery and organisational governance

Moving beyond consultation to ensure children’s perspectives influence real decisions

12:00 PM Networking Lunch Break

1:00 PMWorkshop 2: Addressing Workforce Burnout and Moral Injury in Child Protection Practice

Understanding burnout, moral injury and psychosocial risk in child protection work

Recognising how high caseloads, trauma exposure and system pressure impact practitioner wellbeing

Practical strategies to support workforce resilience and sustainable practice environments

Strengthening reflective learning, peer support and supervision structures

Creating organisational cultures that retain and support child protection practitioners

schedule details

Event Agenda

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:40 AM Welcome to Country

8:50 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Addressing the foster care and placement crisis by strengthening family, carer and workforce support and capacity

Jarrod Wheatley OAM

Panellists:

Barbara Brennan

Jarrod Wheatley OAM

Ghassan Noujaim

Peta Steedman

Ghassan Noujaim

11:00 AM Morning refreshments

Amalie Mannik

Alana Mitchell

Dulcie Cook

12:30 PM Mindfulness and Wellness Session

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

Biljana Milosevic

Panellists:

Carley Jones

Jacinda Armstrong

Cathy Nielson

Playgroup Australia – Speaker TBC*

3:10 PM Afternoon refreshments

Panellists:

Joanne Thomas

Biljana Milosevic

5:30 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of pre-conference day

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:40 AM Welcome to Country

8:50 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Understanding and responding to child safety and child protection challenges

Barbara Brennan

Renee Leigh

Panellists:

Commander Joanne Cameron

Kate Fylan

Rhea Mohenoa

Graham Murray

11:00 AM Morning refreshments

Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA)

Panellists:

Marlene Fox

Karen Whitfield

Joanne Thomas

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

Birgitte Maibom

Emily Logan

Karen Whitfield

Emanuela Cozzoli

Vanessa Richardson

Kate Fylan

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

Kaitlyn Asher

Victoria Harrison

Viv Interrigi

3:10 PM Afternoon refreshments

Safeguarding children in a changing risk environment

3:40 PM Mindfulness and wellness session

Commander Joanne Cameron

Miranda Bain

5:20 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of day one

8:00 AM Registration opens

8:50 AM Opening remarks from the Chair

Designing a preventative and integrated child protection system

Lisa Wellington

Samantha Jeffrey

Alex Weber

Barbara Brennan

Ebony-Ann Blewitt

10:30 AM Morning refreshments

Joshua Tuiono

Lisa Carter

Panellists:

Busani Gwesela

Tanya Blackhall

12:10 PM Networking luncheon

Felix Machiridza