How we work
Strong foundations for lasting impact
A strong practice foundation means consistent, empowering and inclusive impact for every child and young person.
What guides our work
We also make sure that anyone who’s working with children has the skills and training needed to support them to achieve their goals. This consistent way of working means that we are able to:
Communicate clearly
This is important, because children and families should always understand why we do things a certain way as well as how we do them.
Prove our impact
We measure our progress, so we can understand what is making positive impact – and what isn’t working so well.
Learn and change
When we measure our progress, we can be really confident that what we’re doing is actually working – but if it isn't, we learn from it and change.
Our frameworks
What to expect: a guide for participants
We want every child and young person who connects with us to know what to expect when working with 54 reasons. That's why we created What to Expect, a simple illustrated guide. It explains how we can support children and young people in our programs and services, including your right to be heard as we work together.
Culture is key
Diversity, inclusion, and celebrating children's cultural rights are cornerstones of our work.
To make meaningful change, we listen deeply and show respect for all people. We uphold their rights to connect with their culture, traditions, and customs. Across all communities we work alongside, we commit to building a strong understanding of their cultures, so we can better support cultural ways of engaging, learning and working together.
Child participation
Shout out to Article 12! Children's participation is at the centre of everything we do, from shaping policy to service delivery – and we advocate for others to do the same. As a child rights organisation, it’s our responsibility to provide real and meaningful opportunities for children and young people to engage in issues that matter to them. Our focus on child participation ensures that:
- We create plenty of safe, open spaces for children and young people to share their views
- Children and young people are supported to express themselves.
- We take children and young people’s views and opinions seriously.
- Their voices, views and perspectives are meaningfully considered.
- Children and young people share power & responsibility for decisions impacting them
Taking a child i view
The people who work at 54 reasons use a guide called child i view, which helps us to be clear about what children and young people can expect from us and how we will make sure child rights are at the centre of our work. child i view explores:
- The skills and approaches our people need to practice every day to create an environment that upholds children’s rights.
- The levels of knowledge and the mindset needed to deliver safe and effective practice.
- The attitudes and behaviours that guide our practice and decision making.
- The values that are part of everything we do, inspiring and driving our commitment to children, young people, families and communities.
Measuring our impact
As a child rights leader in Australia, we have a big responsibility to kids. We have to be sure that what we’re making a positive difference for children and young people in Australia – and, just as importantly, that they understand what that impact means.
To measure our impact, we created an Outcomes Framework that describes the change we aim to achieve for children, young people and caregivers through five goals, and contains a set of tools to measure how we’re doing. Our focus is on making sure kids engaged with our services are:
