Children and young people in WA face growing challenges including poverty, mental health issues, poor access to timely health care, and educational vulnerabilities. About 17% of children live in poverty—double for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children—and one in seven young people report anxiety or depression, with suicide the leading cause of death for ages 15–24. One in five children start school developmentally vulnerable, with migrant and refugee children facing additional barriers such as trauma and language difficulties.
Despite WA’s economic strength, many children still experience persistent disadvantage. A coordinated, whole‑of‑government Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy is urgently needed to integrate services across health, education, and social sectors. This strategy should prioritise school-based mental health support, culturally safe programs for Aboriginal children, and targeted poverty reduction, ensuring children receive holistic, effective support statewide.
Child voice in government decision-making is a critical, rights-based approach ensuring children and young people actively shape policies affecting their lives, rather than being passive recipients.
That's why at the Valuing Children Initiative we have started our campaign for a Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, calling on the WA State Government to develop a strategy that assesses the impact of governments decisions on children from birth to 17 years old.
We are calling for the government to:
- Monitor and respond to the wellbeing of children from 0-17 years old.
- Implement child impact assessments across all departments.
- Establish parliamentary oversight via a Child Wellbeing Committee.
- Ensure data-driven accountability including but not limited to Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), Wellbeing Monitoring Framework, and Child and Young People Development Atlas.
- Ensure cultural safety & co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance and child voice frameworks.
- Prioritise early intervention to reduce long-term costs and outcomes.
- Consider intersectional inclusion addressing overlapping vulnerabilities.
