Elizabeth's priority was reforming policy and practice, and the initial focus on child protection gradually extended to other areas of child wellbeing, including the treatment of children before the courts.
A decade ago, cross-bench peer Alex Carlile led a parliamentarians' review of the youth court for the foundation. Their conclusions were that the youth court needed urgent reform. The separation of courts, with the youth court focused only on justice issues, was not serving children well. We would now describe this as a call for the adoption of “child first principles” by courts.
The Sieff Foundation has offered a range of solutions including reforms in identification of needs, changes to court procedures and premises, use of data, training of judges and advocates, and links to family courts, as well as wider reforms – for example, calling for a better understanding of the central roll school exclusion played in the lives of many children in trouble.
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