Supporting quality engagement with children

Supporting quality engagement (SQE) with children was a three-year consultation project delivered by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). The project heard from over 1,000 diverse children and young people from all Australian states and territories about policies and services that affect them across five key national strategies.

The first year of consultations focused on the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse, influencing the design of a national information and referral service. The second year focused on improving out-of-home care experiences under Safe and Supported. In the final year, consultations focused on the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, with an emphasis on prevention and early intervention.

In this practice example, SQE project staff reflect on key learnings from the consultations and identify improvements for future projects and practice.

How did the project recruit and onboard children?

To ensure child safety was built into the project, the SQE team worked through trusted partner organisations that provided trusted environments and existing safety protocols. Partnering with organisations also helped achieve a broader reach and engage a diverse range of children from across the country, including those from target cohorts. The team also partnered with youth-led groups, supporting their own engagement and empowerment goals, and leveraged local insight to avoid consultation fatigue and ensure relevance.

Safeguarding and informed consent were critical. Children needed to understand the consultation process and feel that participation was voluntary and timely. For those with lived experience, partner organisations played a key role in determining whether it was the right time for them to be consulted, striking a balance between protecting children and ensuring they had an opportunity to speak if they wanted to. Inclusive participation was also prioritised to create space for children from groups that are often underrepresented to be heard and influence outcomes.

What allowed children’s voices to be heard?

Children shared what made the consultation experience meaningful for them, saying they valued:

• ‘being able to express myself’,
• ‘being listened to’, and
• ‘the engaging manner’ of the sessions.

Participants appreciated that ‘it was inclusive’ and that ‘the questions were specifically on a subject or topic that we related to’. Practical efforts also mattered, with some noting ‘free food’, ‘expressing myself on a piece of paper’ and the ‘gift card’ as positive aspects of participation.

Several strategies were effective in making consultations meaningful and engaging for children and young people. The project’s approach balanced safeguarding with creating an environment where participants felt comfortable and valued. Key elements included:

• Mixed methodologies: Combining conversation-based discussions with creative options like drawing, writing and using fidget toys, helped maintain engagement. Flexible formats, such as allowing individuals to work independently and return to a group to share when ready, and offering standalone one-to-one sessions, also supported children’s participation.
• Meeting children where they are: Holding sessions in spaces familiar to the children contributed to safeguarding and helped children feel relaxed.
• Clear structure: A strong methodology provided boundaries and shape to the consultation, enabling discussions that were free-flowing but focused.
• Group composition: For sensitive topics, groups worked better when participants already knew each other. If they did not, it took them longer to ‘open up’ (feel comfortable to share).
• Peer support: Children with lived experience were very supportive of one another, creating a positive group dynamic.
• Recognition and incentives: Gift cards were appreciated as remuneration, and certificates were surprisingly valued – many participants noted they could include these on their CVs.

What made the engagements safe for children?

Creating a safe, relevant and developmentally appropriate environment for children to share their views was central to the approach used in this project. Safeguarding was the foundation of every decision, ensuring that children felt respected, secure and free to express their opinions without fear of harm or exploitation. The challenge lay in balancing two critical rights: children’s right to protection from trauma and harm, and the right to be heard on matters that affect them. To achieve this, the following ethics checks and practical measures were implemented:

• Expert Reference Group: An Expert Reference Group was made up of specialists in child rights, participation and the subject matter under consultation. This group reviewed the project methodology, materials and consent processes, advising on improvements to strengthen safeguarding. Their input ensured that the approach met high ethical standards.
• Concept testing: Youth advisory groups from diverse organisations helped refine the consultation plan, language and activities, ensuring they were age-appropriate, inclusive and sensitive to participants’ needs. This step reduced risk of misunderstanding and promoted clarity.
• Partnership model: The SQE team worked exclusively through trusted partner organisations. This meant consultations took place in familiar, safe spaces with adults known to the children. These organisations provided existing safety protocols and local insight, which helped avoid consultation fatigue and maintain relevance.
• Informed consent: Child-friendly and easy-read consent forms were developed and also explained verbally at the start of each session. Children were told they could opt out of any activity or leave at any time. Parental or guardian consent was also required for participants under 15 years. This process ensured transparency and voluntary participation.
• Internal AHRC policy guidance: The project team followed guidance from the Commission on child safety and wellbeing, risk assessment and privacy policies. Importantly, consultation questions avoided probing lived experiences directly. Instead, they encouraged children to think about the rights and needs of all children, particularly those who are marginalised. This solution-focused framing reduced the risk of re-traumatisation and avoided pressure to share personal stories that participants might think adults want to hear.

Together, these measures created conditions where children could engage meaningfully and safely. By prioritising their best interests and embedding safeguarding at every stage, the SQE project process enabled authentic participation while promoting their wellbeing.

How did the project honour and respond to children’s voices?

Children’s voices were honoured and responded to by embedding children’s perspectives throughout the project cycle.

• Youth reference groups were central, shaping consultation design, interpreting findings and co-developing recommendations, ensuring that outputs reflected authentic lived experiences.
• Reports wove together direct quotations from children and young people, preserving the integrity of their voices.
• Creative contributions, such as artwork by young artists in Years 2 and 3 of the project, added depth and visibility to the ideas that came out of consultations.
• Feedback loops were critical. After each session, summaries were shared with participants via partner organisations, enabling them to validate or amend interpretations where needed.

These measures demonstrated respect, transparency and accountability – and the efforts made to ensure consultations meaningful for children and young people.

What are some key takeaway messages worth sharing?

• Consultations at scale are achievable when grounded in rights-based, trauma-informed practice – and conducted with trusted partners on the ground.
• The SQE project demonstrated that children want to participate – even on sensitive issues – when safeguarding sets the conditions for engagement. Creating safe spaces, clear consent processes and culturally responsive methodologies enabled authentic dialogue.
• Accountability is challenging. Children want to see how their ideas influence decisions, yet government systems often lack mechanisms for transparent feedback. Closing this loop is essential to avoid consultation fatigue and cynicism.
• Moving toward best approaches/practice means embedding co-design and co-creation into the life of a project, which cannot be achieved in brief, one-off consultations. Longer-term engagement, youth reference groups and iterative processes allow children to shape priorities and outcomes, strengthening trust and impact. These steps can transform participation from being tokenistic to meaningful, ensuring children’s voices inform policy and program design in tangible ways.

Is there anything the team would do differently next time?

While the SQE project achieved significant outcomes, considerations for future projects include:

• Longer, more flexible timelines and project focus would allow us to develop more sustained relationships with partner organisations and children. It would also support iterative processes, enabling trust-building and richer dialogue. This would create space for genuine co-design and co-creation, including co-facilitation with partners and young people – approaches shown to strengthen authenticity and impact. Contractual parameters can limit opportunities for deeper engagement with partner organisations and children.
• Extended place-based engagement can embed cultural safety and local insight more deeply, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and help overcome systemic barriers to participation.
• Involving children more comprehensively in data analysis and interpretation, as demonstrated by the youth reference groups. This engagement could enhance credibility and ensure findings reflect lived experience and the unique perspectives of children and young people.
• Integrating more human rights education into our engagements could further empower children, building civic literacy and confidence while reinforcing participation as a right, not a part-time activity.

Together, it is possible that these steps would transform engagement with children and young people into collaborative, rights-based partnerships that deliver meaningful influence over time.

Want to know more?

To read about the project visit the SQE project on the AHRC website.

Learn more about Emerging Minds’ approach to ived and living experience partnerships.

Are you planning lived experience work but are unsure where to start? See our Lived and living experience partnerships toolkit.