Review of the Advocate for Children and Young People Act

Last published on 17 Nov 2020 

The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) is reviewing the Advocate for Children and Young People Act 2014 (the Act) on behalf of the Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services and the Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women. Both Ministers are responsible for the Act.

The Act established the statutory office of the Advocate for Children and Young People and a new Youth Advisory Council to represent the needs and interests of children and young people in NSW.

The review will determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing these objectives.

We want to hear from all different people to make sure the Act reflects what is needed to support children and young people in NSW. We encourage children and young people, and individuals and organisations who work directly with children and young people, to provide feedback on the Act.

We encourage you to have your say, especially

• Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children and young people,
• Children and young people with a cultural and linguistically diverse background,
• Children and young people from rural communities,
• Children and young people with a disability

Discussion paper

The discussion paper (PDF , 443.0 KB) is now available online. The discussion paper provides information about the Advocate for Children and Young People Act and the roles and responsibilities of the Advocate. The paper contains questions about how the Act works.

You can give feedback in a number of ways:

Do the online survey

Do the online survey on the review of the Advocate for Children and Young People Act.

Write to us

Email your feedback to policy@justice.nsw.gov.au or post it to:

Policy, Reform and Legislation

Department of Communities and Justice

Locked Bag 4028, Ashfield, NSW 1800

More information

To learn more about the review and how you can participate, or if you would like to provide feedback in another way, email policy@justice.nsw.gov.au or phone 02 8753 8421.

Submissions made to the review may be referred to in the final report and may be made publicly available unless you indicate that all or part of it be kept confidential.

All feedback will be considered and will inform a report on the review. This will then be tabled in NSW Parliament.