Our Future, Our Narrative

Reflections from Phase Two of the In Our Own Right – We Are Leading Change Project.

In Our Own Right is a lived experience advocacy project led by young people. It provides a platform for the reflections and recommendations of children and young people impacted by family, domestic and sexual violence. Our aim is to create systemic change and to highlight children and young people with lived experience of violence as experts, advocates and victim-survivors, in our own right.

After completing the first phase in 2022, we received overwhelmingly positive responses from young people and staff working in the sector, providing strong evidence of the need for this project to grow. Many people shared that this work felt like a missing puzzle piece – one that prioritised what matters most to children and young people experiencing violence, while also hearing directly from us. In response, the project lead Kirra, wrote to Family Safety Victoria and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing seeking financial support to continue the work into a second phase, including the development of the following two new resources. Both resources are available for download below, and we encourage you to share them far and wide.

Phase Two builds directly on what children and young people told us was missing.

In this phase of the project, we spoke with 17 children and young people aged 9–24 who have experienced family, domestic and/or sexual violence. Most participants were accessing support services at the time of their involvement.

The project, resources and launch event would not have been possible without the children and young people who shared their time, creativity, experiences and expertise with and alongside us. This includes Annie, Bean, Charlie, Conor, Hailey, Isabelle, Juni W and many others who, for safety reasons, have chosen to remain anonymous. Sharing their wisdom while still accessing services and living with the ongoing impacts, reflects both immense strength and the urgent need for systems to do better.

We particularly want to recognise Juni for her incredible artwork, which has become the focal point of the project resources and the upcoming report. In 2024, at nine years old, Juni first conceptualised and illustrated the angry flame, the sad cloud and the happy flower as part of her contribution to the project.

The launch event

On Wednesday 1 October 2025, Berry Street’s Y-Change initiative hosted the official In Our Own Right launch event at the Harry Atkinson Art and Craft Centre in Coburg North, on the land of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation.

More than 100 children, young people and professionals from across the sector attended, including representatives from Berry Street, Yooralla, Safe and Equal, the Commission for Children and Young People, Family Safety Victoria, Kids First, National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse, Refuge Victoria, Salvation Army, Uniting and VACCA – to name just a few.

We launched two illustrated resources at the event. The first explores what children and young people believe makes a safe family violence worker. The second highlights our systemic experiences when navigating services while living with family violence.

This event marks a meaningful first: a launch about children and young people entirely led by children and young people. Those with first-hand experiences shared key advocacy areas and what is most important from our perspective.

Like every part of the In Our Own Right project, the launch event (including choosing the venue, designing the activities and developing the panel discussion questions) was co-designed with the children and young people involved. As children and young people, we were intentional about not recreating spaces where we are routinely excluded. Our priority was creating an environment that was accessible, inclusive and welcoming for children and young people to be active participants in conversations about our lives.

It was important to find the right balance between creating a space that could hold heavy and confronting topics, while also modelling how to work alongside children and young people through creativity and play.

Inside the venue, participants could take part in activities such as collaging, biscuit decorating, beading, colouring in, a chocolate toss and professional face painting. Alongside this was a shared snack table with a chocolate fountain, fruit, lollies, fairy bread and chips. These activities and food choices were made by children and young people themselves – not as an afterthought, but as an intentional expression of safety, care and active listening.

Why this matters

Our initial aim for the launch was to celebrate the children and young people involved in the project and to raise awareness of the resources. As we worked alongside one another, this grew into a clearer and more powerful purpose: to send a strong message of change.

Too often, we feel powerless, stuck in systems that don’t hear us and are so risk averse that they miss simple opportunities for connection. A 12-year-old reflected during the project that when she attended support services and was involved with child protection, no one interacted with her, asked how she was, or even said hello.

This launch demonstrated that we not only have the right to speak about our experiences, but a strong desire to be included. Workers need to be supported to feel confident engaging with children and young people, including having difficult conversations about family violence and hard experiences.

To remain true to the purpose of In Our Own Right, we have intentionally used the direct language of children and young people in our resources. We should not have to translate our experiences to make them more palatable, or to be taken seriously by professionals, services and systems.

It is vital that children and young people see their views and experiences reflected accurately and accessibly in what is produced. Too often, our experiences have been ignored, mistranslated or misrepresented – in case notes, court processes, care teams and advocacy projects. A core purpose of this work is to stay true to our experiences, in our own words, in our own way and in our own right.

What’s next?

Our hopes for Phase Two of In Our Own Right:

That children and young people:

• know they are not alone
• get opportunities to express themselves, are heard and taken seriously
• are viewed as experts, advocates and victim-survivors in their own right.

That workers and services:

• feel better equipped to engage safely and meaningfully with children and young people experiencing family violence
• use our recommendations and ideas for change in their practice - in conversations, reflective spaces and when advocating for change
• display the resources where children and young people access, providing visibility and validation of their experiences.

That systems:

• create broader awareness of systemic gaps
• ensure feedback from children and young people is captured and acted on
• provide opportunities for systems to demonstrate that they are listening, taking action and working differently.

We hope our resources support learning and reflection, and that readers take forward our key ideas for change. Every person, regardless of their role, has a part to play in recognising children and young people as victim-survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence.

By displaying these resources, sharing them widely and integrating them into your practice, you signal that our experiences and recommendations matter – that we matter.

As Conor, a young advocate, shared on the day of the launch:

“We don’t want these resources to collect dust. We want to see fingerprints and marks that show how many hands they’ve passed through.”