How child inclusive were Australia's responses to COVID‐19?

Abstract

From March 2020, Australia introduced a range of policies to respond to COVID‐19, most of which impacted significantly on the lives of children. This article applies a child‐centred framework, developed from rights‐based participatory research with children, to analyse how children have been represented in policy narratives around COVID‐19 and the extent to which policy responses have been child‐inclusive or child‐centred. We argue that, overall, COVID‐19 policy responses have failed to be child‐inclusive or child‐centred. This has important implications not only for understanding the impact of COVID‐19 on children but also in understanding—and potentially rethinking—the place of children in policies as Australia emerges from COVID‐19 restrictions.

Children and youth in the age of COVID‐19

“… Empirical analyses of the impacts of COVID‐19 on children and youth (Allen et al, 2023; Dinku & Yap, 2022; Mundy et al, 2022; Prattley et al, 2022; Price et al, 2022; Tomaszewski et al, 2022; Townsend et al, 2022). Public policies and services : Evaluation and examination of how policies or service changes have enhanced or undermined children and youth's well‐being or education during the pandemic (Bessell & Vuckovic, 2022; Mardinli et al, 2022; Plage et al, 2022). …”

“…Bessell and Vuckovic (2022) discuss how children were represented in Australia's policy response to COVID‐19. Federal government documents and announcements reveal an inattention to children's needs during the pandemic.…”

“…The rapid systematic review by Coles et al (2022) is notable for synthesising the relevant literature prior to the pandemic; however, there is a strong need for ongoing synthesis and reviews of lessons from the pandemic across all the areas reviewed. While this special issue does address some lessons for public policy and service delivery (Bessell & Vuckovic, 2022; Mardinli et al, 2022; Plage et al, 2022), the significant and rapid reform of health and social service delivery in moving to remote delivery over this period warrants further systematic examination.…”