Justice Stocktake 2025

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Home | Opportunities for children and young people

Opportunities for children and young people

Children and young people have the right to a full life, where they can thrive, be supported, and be empowered. The early years of a child’s life are foundational for future health, development, and wellbeing outcomes. Unfortunately, many children and young people in our country do not have a great start in life and face various challenges that are outside their control. This can be stressful, traumatic, and disruptive to their development, and have lifelong impacts.

On average, one in six Australian children aged 0-14 years live in poverty.[1] Children living in regional Australia are more at risk of child social exclusion, a measure of childhood disadvantage which extends the concept of child poverty, with almost 48 per cent of children in regional areas falling into the two most excluded quintiles.[2] There is a strong correlation between experiencing poverty in the first thousand days of life and experiencing adverse health and wellbeing outcomes in later life.[3] The effects of poverty also adversely impact educational attainment, with children experiencing disadvantage being on average two to three years behind in reading and maths by the time they reach 15 years. This can prevent children from reaching their full potential later in life and perpetuates intergenerational disadvantage for those 1.2 million Australian children living in poverty.[4]

Children and young people living in out-of-home care are even more acutely affected. Children and young people living in out-of-home care experience poorer wellbeing outcomes in general, as well as having often experienced a range of significant adverse life experiences and traumas. These experiences are linked with reduced social skills, developmental disruption, poorer educational attainment, increased likelihood of encountering the youth justice system, poorer physical and mental health outcomes, impacts to their attachment behaviours and connection to community.[5]

For young people, limited employment prospects in Australia can substantially impact their wellbeing. Being unemployed restricts access to a wide range of services, opportunities, and necessities, including housing, transportation, and basic living needs.

These adverse experiences in childhood and at a young age can result in ongoing and chronic experiences of poverty across a person’s whole life. We need to ensure opportunities for children and young people so they can achieve their potential at any age.

One in every six Australian children live below the national poverty line.[6]

In 2021 nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of all people experiencing homelessness were aged from 12 to 24 years.[7]

30% of young people experience homelessness

30 per cent of young people experience homelessness within the first year of leaving out-of-home care.[8]

Youth unemployment rate in 2024: 9.7%

In 2024, the youth unemployment rate was at 9.7 per cent compared to four per cent for the adult population.[9]

We have the power to make a difference

We can urge action from our governments

Economic and social factors can negatively impact a person’s mental health. Systemic issues such as poverty, housing insecurity, family and domestic violence and other social and economic factors need to be addressed for any mental health strategy to be effective.

Governments can work together to implement diverse, ambitious, evidence-based trial programs to explore new approaches and deliver active outreach. One key priority is fixing the issue of the “missing middle” of mental health care provision, to address mental ill health before a person reaches a crisis.

We can implement change in our community and our workplaces

It is critical that workplaces treat employees’ and volunteers’ mental health and wellbeing as an element of Workplace Health and Safety (WHS). One action workplaces can take is to offer relevant staff and volunteers, including managers, leaders and senior staff members, training in mental health first aid just as we do physical first aid.

Our community groups can be powerful in providing social connection that can build resilience against mental ill health. It is important that we make sure that our events, activities, and spaces are welcoming for all people and do not create stigma around mental ill health.

We can have influence in our personal lives

In our own lives we can find strategies to build positive mental health and wellbeing. This includes asking for help when it is needed and finding out about local supports and services to foster positive mental health and address mental health concerns.

We can talk to the people in our lives if we are worried about their mental health, ask if they are okay, listen and help them to access support. If you are not sure what to say, there are helpful resources online.

  1. Miranti, R., Freyens. B., Vidyattama, Y., Tanton, R., & Shakir, G. (2024). Child Social Exclusion Index Nurturing Inclusion: Paving the Way to Improved Child Wellbeing. The Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society (SchoPES), Faculty of Business, Government and Law (BGL), University of Canberra. Report commissioned by UnitingCare Australia ↩︎

  2. Miranti, R., Freyens. B., Vidyattama, Y., Tanton, R., & Shakir, G. (2024). Child Social Exclusion Index Nurturing Inclusion: Paving the Way to Improved Child Wellbeing. The Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society (SchoPES), Faculty of Business, Government and Law (BGL), University of Canberra. Report commissioned by UnitingCare Australia ↩︎

  3. Moore, T.G., Arefadib, N., Deery, A., Keyes, M., & West, S. (2017). The First Thousand Days: An Evidence Paper – Summary. Parkville, Victoria: Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. ↩︎

  4. The Smith Family. (n.d.). Poverty in Australia. [Link] ↩︎

  5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2021). Young people in out-of-home care. [Link] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2020). Australia’s children. [Link] pdf?v=20230921161957&inline=true ↩︎

  6. UNICEF Australia. (2023). The Wellbeing of Australia’s Children. [Link] ↩︎

  7. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023). Estimating Homelessness: Census. [Link] ↩︎

  8. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Specialist Homelessness Services Annual Report 2022-23. [Link] clients-leaving-care ↩︎

  9. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023). Labour Force Australia. [Link] ↩︎

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