What We Do
What is child wellbeing?
Child wellbeing describes what a good life looks like for a child or young person. It goes beyond the absence of illness or hardship; it’s about children having everything they need to grow, learn, connect, and flourish.
At ARACY, we define child wellbeing through The Nest, Australia’s national wellbeing framework developed through a national consensus process involving researchers, practitioners, community members and young people themselves. The Nest identifies six interconnected domains that together shape whether a child is truly thriving.
Watch this short animation below, developed with Emerging Minds, to see what child wellbeing really means in practice.
A thriving child is doing well across all six domains. Each supports the others; a gap in any one area affects the whole.
Then six tiles, name and one-liner only:
- Valued, loved and safe – stable relationships and freedom from harm
- Material basics – access to food, shelter and essential services
- Healthy – physical, mental and emotional health from the earliest years
- Learning – quality education and opportunities to develop skills and curiosity
- Participating – active membership of family, community and society
- Positive sense of identity and culture – cultural belonging, and safe expression of identity for all children including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, CALD, LGBTIQA+ and children with disability
The Nest Wellbeing Framework explores the evidence behind each domain, how they connect, and how governments, practitioners and communities can use the framework to improve outcomes for children and young people.
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WHAT WE DO
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Search through our extensive Resource Library including Research papers, Submissions, Reports and much more.
ARACY's The Nest
What's in The Nest?
With six connected areas, The Nest ensures young Australians have everything they need for the best start in life, helping them reach their highest potential.
Our Nest projects
Using The Nest, has helped ARACY to be at the forefront of disease prevention and the promotion of holistic health for young Australians.
The Nest initiatives
Here you’ll see some examples of how The Nest has been used in organisations outside of ARACY across Australia.