1 in 7 children experience a mental health disorder, and paediatricians now report that 7 in 10 presentations relate to mental-health issues. Families are waiting months, sometimes years for help. Schools are overwhelmed. Our kids are struggling in silence.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Across Australia, childhood wellbeing is declining at the fastest rate in decades. The Our Kids Count White Paper exposes a confronting truth: Australia’s mental-health system is built to respond to crisis, not prevent it.
Parents don’t have the support to help their kids:
61% of parents are worried about their child’s stress, anxiety or mental health.
42% don’t know where to start when their child needs help.
Half of all mental-health conditions begin before age 14.
Yet children under 12 have been systematically overlooked in national policy.
This is not inevitable. With the right support, children can thrive.
The white paper shares heartbreaking stories from parents across every state, stories of long waitlists, high costs, fear, exhaustion and preventable suffering.
These voices are clear:
The Our Kids Count White Paper outlines a bold, evidence-based national blueprint to fix the system, starting with prevention and early intervention.
Inside the report, you’ll discover:
How declining developmental and wellbeing outcomes (AEDC 2024) and falling academic performance (NAPLAN 2025) reflect stress, emotional dysregulation and mental ill health building from the early years.
Half of mental-health conditions start before 14, but prevention in primary school is almost unfunded. (Page 7–8)
Evidence shows prevention programs improve academic results, reduce anxiety and build lifelong protective skills, yet universal prevention remains the weakest part of Australia’s system (pages 9–11).
Including a national continuum of care (page 12), better alignment of education, health and social services (page 13), and how technology can provide scalable, ethical support to every child and family (pages 11–12).
More than 13,000 people have already signed the Our Kids Count petition calling for urgent, national action. (Page 6)
Your voice adds pressure to the message politicians and policymakers can no longer ignore. We need a mental-health system that helps children before they reach crisis.
When you sign, you’re joining parents, educators, clinicians, and community leaders demanding that our leaders:
Invest in prevention and early intervention
Equip schools with evidence-based wellbeing tools
Support families so they are not left to cope alone
Build coordinated systems that reduce waitlists, not add to them
Use technology for good to deliver equity and national reach
Together, we can show decision-makers that Australians expect better for our children.
The following organisations support Smiling Mind's call for urgent action on children's mental health.
7NEWS Australia interviews Smiling Mind’s CEO on World Children’s Day, discussing our white paper.
Sydney Morning Herald: Children’s mental health is worsening. Where is the minister for primary kids?
Nine Today: Calls for support for kids mental health.
Bounty Parents: REAL LIFE: “Every day I worry about my son with ADHD and anxiety. But there is hope.”
The Sector: Smiling Mind calls for children’s minister to be established as mental health declines.
A Current Affair: The mental health toll of COVID on kids.
