One of the most important issues in Australia today is the way we care for, develop, value and celebrate our children and young people. In this paper the New South Wales Commissioner for Children and Young People outlines some of the challenges facing communities, researchers and policy makers. She argues that we need to rethink our directions and reshape the relationship between public policy and children, young people and families by: listening to families, young people and children; starting from what works for children, young people and families and developing policy from there; basing our conversation on wellbeing, not problems; and getting serious about research into adolescents, their families and peers. This means a reorienting of much of the policy, research and practice activities of governments, community organisations, corporations, communities, and individual practitioners, suggests the author.