Putting Children First
A confronting story of lived experience, systemic failure and the fight to reform child protection.
In this episode of The Experts Podcast, Nic Hayes sits down with child safety advocate and founder of the Child First Movement, Jason Blyth.
Listen on Soundcloud, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Jason’s story is difficult, deeply personal and ultimately one of purpose. Having experienced abuse and the failures of the child protection system firsthand, he is now using that lived experience to push for meaningful reform and ensure children are heard when they need help most.
When the System Fails the Child
Jason describes a childhood shaped by trauma, abuse and repeated attempts to seek help from a system that was supposed to protect him. By the age of nine, he knew something was fundamentally wrong. Rather than addressing the abuse he was experiencing, Jason says the system focused on his behaviour and treated him as the problem.
“You’re just treating a symptom here. No one cared to actually discover why I had the problems I did.”
It is an experience that continues to drive his advocacy today.
From Lived Experience to Action
Jason believes child protection cannot be properly reformed without listening to those who have experienced the system firsthand. Through the Child First Movement, he is calling for lived experience to be embedded into policy, decision-making and the delivery of child protection services.
For Jason, the measure of success is remarkably simple.
“The only question that matters to me is, was the child safe? If you can’t answer that, then you failed in exactly what you’ve been designed to do.”
Putting Children at the Centre
This is a powerful conversation about what happens when systems lose sight of the people they were created to protect. Jason challenges governments, agencies and policymakers to rethink how Australia approaches child safety and, critically, to listen when a child asks for help.
His message is clear. Procedures, policies and processes matter, but the safety of the child must come first.
This episode of The Experts Podcast is confronting at times, but it is also a story of resilience, purpose and one man’s determination to turn lived experience into lasting change.
