This National Child Protection Week, Marist180 is joining the call to turn conversations about child safety and wellbeing into meaningful action — including stronger investment in supporting children, young people and families earlier.
National Child Protection Week, led by NAPCAN from 6–12 September, carries the theme Every Conversation Matters: Shifting Conversation to Action.
For Marist180, that call to action speaks strongly to our Mission and the work we do alongside children, young people and families.
Every child deserves the opportunity to grow up safe, supported and connected to family, culture and community. Creating those conditions means making sure families can access the right support at the right time, building on their strengths, responding earlier and creating stronger foundations for children to thrive.
In her National Child Protection Week message, Marist180 CEO Angela Raguz reflects on why this matters and the question we now need to ask: how do we translate what we know into earlier investment and action?
The evidence for investing earlier
There is growing evidence that supporting families earlier makes sense not only socially, but economically.
Modelling commissioned by Fams and undertaken by Lumenia found that investing earlier in children and families could return up to $2.97 in social and economic benefits for every $1 invested.
The evidence raises an important question: if we understand the value of supporting families earlier, what needs to change for that evidence to translate into investment?
It is a conversation Marist180 is helping bring to the table during National Child Protection Week.
Bringing people together around action
On Friday 11 September, Marist180 will host A Smarter Investment: The Economics of Early Intervention, with the support of Commonwealth Bank.
The luncheon will bring together leaders from government, community services, research, philanthropy and business to consider what it will take to make earlier support a greater investment priority.
NSW Advocate for Children and Young People Katherine McKernan will deliver a special address, while Fams CEO Susan Watson and Lumenia Partner Mark Galvin will present the economic modelling.
They will join AbSec CEO John Leha and Associate Professor Tim Moore from Australian Catholic University for a broader discussion about what the evidence means for policy, investment and practice. NAPCAN CEO Leesa Waters will also contribute, connecting the conversation to the wider National Child Protection Week call to move from conversation to action.
Our role in the conversation
For Marist180, advocating for earlier support sits within a broader commitment to children, young people and families.
We are advocating for sustained investment across the child and family support continuum, with a stronger focus on prevention, earlier support and family preservation.
In practice, that means making support easier for families to access when they need it; helping children remain safely connected to family, kin, culture and community wherever possible; listening to children, young people and families; and supporting culturally safe, Aboriginal-led and community-controlled responses.
On November 20, 2025, the Global Marist Family came together once again to celebrate World Children's Day. The celebration opened with the words of Br. Peter Carroll, Superior General of the Marist Brothers, who reminded everyone that boys and girls are not only the promise of tomorrow, but the responsibility of today. He invited the participants to listen carefully to the voices of boys and girls, because their voices teach us, challenge us and show us the world for what it is. Protection, participation and empowerment of boys and girls — especially those on the margins — are not optional values: they are at the heart of the Marist style… of our Marist180 way.
National Child Protection Week gives us an opportunity to bring together evidence, experience and different perspectives around a shared purpose: creating the conditions in which children and young people can thrive. Because every conversation matters. What we do with it matters even more.
Lilibeth Sta Maria
Mission and Marketing Office,r and
Patrick O’Reilly
Director Mission, Inclusion and Identity
