The Senate's report on poverty in Australia highlights Valuing Children Initiative significant contribution, referencing Adj/Prof. Tony Pietropiccolo AM's poignant remarks.
Opinion from one of our Ambassadors, Associate Professor Madeline Dobson to consider for your next publication. The topic is valuing children and their connection to media, particularly stars like Taylor Swift. Jarvis is an eight year old boy, obsessed with Star Wars. He has blond hair, a green light saber and he can ‘use the force’. Through his video games and hours spent watching the Star Wars movies, Jarvis in himself, believes in some real way that he is Luke Skywalker. He sees a figure fighting the evils of the dark side for the good of the Universe. This helps him make sense of the world and has become a measure for understanding ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ in the real world. Children’s interactions with culture and media deserve to be taken seriously. Often, children and young people find that their passions are dismissed and devalued by adults, whether it is a TV show, a film franchise, a band - children’s interests are often infantilised, sidelined, and treated as a meaningless ‘past-time’.
Stand Up for Children's Rights!
It’s estimated that between 761,000 and 1.2 million children live in poverty and more than 200,000 experience severe poverty.
At 14 years of age, Josh has lived experience of a number of important social issues that affect many in our society. He's also an articulate and passionate advocate for change.
Print the poster in A4 or A3 and post around your workplace – on the friends and at your reception area
As we vote and make decisions for local, state and federal government, board or CEO level decisions here in Australia we ask: How do you value children?
Recent media coverage of child sex abuse has revealed that even with the most stringent laws and regulations around working with children, child abuse is still happening at alarming rates.
The views of children and young people are often not considered, and their voices are generally not heard.
We want Australia to be the best place to be a child and the best place to raise a child but right now we are a long way from achieving this.
In 2016, the Valuing Children Initiative (VCI) commissioned their benchmark survey examining adult attitudes towards children.
In Australia, almost 18 per cent of kids live below the poverty line. One in four is overweight and an estimated eight children are sexually assaulted by a family member every day.