Our work seeks to amplify our sector’s voice.
We strive to accomplish this through:
- Advocating for enhanced policies
- Pursuing opportunities for collaborative advocacy, networking, and partnership
- Representing the sector in government and sector-led groups and committees
- Engaging with political leaders to highlight positive impacts, challenges, and recommendations for better outcomes
- Creating meaningful and effective advocacy resources
- Promoting early intervention and prevention strategies across the sector
We believe that early support and care are vital for ensuring children’s safety, strengthening families, and fostering supportive communities. It is essential for decision-makers to allocate appropriate funding for early intervention and prevention services. Numerous reviews recommend redirecting child protection funding in New South Wales towards these areas to achieve better outcomes and long-term savings.
Our work is grounded in an intersectional social justice framework, recognising the critical connections between child protection and issues such as:
- Domestic, family, and sexual violence
- Mental health challenges
- Alcohol and drug use
- Gambling-related harm
We understand that systems, policies, and resources must be improved to better serve vulnerable people, including First Nations communities, CALD populations, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and families with disabilities, particularly in rural and remote areas.
Examples of our work include:
- Elections, direct advocacy to decision makers and members of parliament
The March 2023 state election provided an opportunity for strong sector led advocacy to government. Fams developed our 2023 Election Platform informed by the 2021-2022 Annual Survey, where the sector identified what key elements to include in our Election Ask. We worked closely with our fellow peaks to ensure our message was powerful and consistent.
Fams issued a media release and received coverage in the Daily Telegraph. Our platform was supported by our fellow peaks, AbSec, ACWA and NCOSS. We represented the sector at a meeting with the Minister’s Chief of Staff and Shadow Minister at the time, Kate Washington. Fams also received a formal response of support from The Greens. - Submissions
Fams submitted recommendations to the Australian Government’s Early Years Strategy, in consultation with the sector. Aligning to our election asks, recommendations included collaborative government approaches, disaster preparedness and alignment to Closing the Gap targets.
We collaborated with Youth Action on a submission to the Human Rights Commission focusing on reforming youth justice and child wellbeing, emphasised addressing systemic disadvantages and suggested prioritising workforce training for culturally safe, trauma-informed services.
Stay updated with our latest media releases, submissions, and more by visiting our dedicated page.
