Commissioner presents White Flame Award

The White Flame Awards are part of the Save the Children vision to ensure this is a world in which every child has a healthy and safe childhood, the opportunity to learn, and a voice to speak for themselves.  The  annual  Awards are a way of recognising outstanding contributions from Queenslanders to Save the Children’s vision in serving the needs and rights of children. 

In October this year, Commissioner Elizabeth Fraser presented the 2010 White Flame Award to Lisa Hillan, a dedicated social worker with more than 20 years experience in child protection. 

For the first time in the history of the White Flame Award, this year’s award honoured the contribution of a Save the Children Australia employee, Ms Lisa Hillan.   

Ms Hillan has experience as a front line case worker and team leader with the Department of Families, has worked in the UK with refugee families and also has significant experience in counselling vulnerable children. 

She has successfully worked in collaboration with Child Safety Officers in the Wynnum/Redlands areas and with out-of-home care service providers to establish the WRICSI Program, a partnership approach to providing an integrated and flexible out-of-home care placement and support system.  This initiative has provided a greater range of placement and support options for young people within the catchment areas. 

In 2005 Ms Hillan was awarded a Churchill Fellowship which allowed her to travel to the UK, Canada and USA to explore differing models of residential care provision for young people unable to live with their families. 

Another one of her achievements is the establishment of Intensive Supported Playgroups, an early intervention program operating in Queensland and Darwin in partnership with Larrakia Naton and Wadeye (NT) in partnership with the Thamarrurr Council and soon to be established in Doomadgee and on Mornington Island.   

Ms Hillan has given of her time freely to serving the community having held a number of voluntary positions which had included Chair of the Child Protection Week Committee, board member of PeakCare and Chair of the Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia (CAFWAA). 

The White Flame Award was created in memory of Save the Children Australia’s founder, Eglantyne Jebb, who established Save the Children Australia 91 years ago in Queensland, and originally in the UK in 1919.  Eglanytne Jebb is a woman who is revered as one of the great leaders in human rights of all time.  She penned the pioneering statement of children’s human rights.  This was later adopted and became known as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - forever changing the way the world regards and treats its children.  

Save the Children Australia is the world’s largest independent child rights development organisation, making a difference to children’s lives in more than 100 countries.  From emergency relief to long-term development, Save the Children Australia secures a child’s right to basic food and shelter as well as health, education and protection.

Last Updated: October 29, 2010

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