A problem that must be solved repeatedly may, as is often remarked, be a sign that a system needs to be redesigned. There is wisdom in that observation. Systems matter. They shape the decisions we make, the services we deliver and the outcomes we achieve.

But there is another important point worth adding: systems do not stand still. They evolve, or at least they should.

The Jersey of 2026 is not the Jersey of 2016. Children are growing up in a different world. Technology is transforming childhood at a pace few could have predicted. The pressures facing families continue to shift. New opportunities emerge alongside new risks; social expectations change; knowledge develops. What we understand today about mental health, neurodiversity, online safety or child development is different from what we understood a decade ago.

Good systems respond to these changes.

The formation of a new Council of Ministers provides an opportunity to think about exactly that.

Over the coming months, Ministers will begin developing a new Common Strategic Policy. The previous Common Strategic Policy contained a number of commitments affecting children and young people, including childcare provision, school meals, skills development and support for families. These priorities sat within a broader vision for community wellbeing and recognised that children enjoying the best start in life and the best childhood we can provide is one of Jersey's key long-term objectives.

The new Council of Ministers now has the opportunity to build on that foundation and establish its own priorities for the years ahead.

As Ministers settle into their portfolios, they will inevitably find themselves dealing with a wide range of issues affecting children and young people.

The Minister for Children and Families may focus on safeguarding, family support, children's social care and the wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable young Islanders.

The Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning will consider inclusion, attainment, attendance, special educational needs and preparation for adulthood.

The Minister for Health and Social Services will encounter challenges around mental health services, neurodevelopmental assessments and access to support.

The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs may find herself grappling with online harms, youth justice, exploitation and community safety.

But the reality is that children's lives do not arrive neatly organised into ministerial portfolios. A child experiences what government delivers as a whole.

The child waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment may also be struggling at school. The child affected by poor housing may also be experiencing anxiety. The teenager concerned about online safety may also be thinking about education, friendships, identity and future employment.

Children's lives are interconnected. Consequently, the policies that affect them must be connected too.

That is why it is important to recognise that children's rights are not simply another policy area competing for attention alongside many others. They are a framework, a way of thinking – or, to put it another way, a component of all systems.

When Jersey ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it did not simply sign up to a collection of individual obligations. It committed itself to a coherent way of considering how decisions affect children and young people.

This matters because every Minister will (understandably) approach issues from the perspective of their own portfolio, and yet children and young people need something more than a series of well-intentioned but individual departmental responses. They need a common thread.

Without that thread, there is a risk that important issues are considered in isolation.

Online safety provides a useful, and topical, example. It is tempting to view it solely as a matter of protection. Protection is, of course, essential. But children also have rights to information, education, participation and expression. The challenge is not simply how to reduce risk. It is how to balance all these considerations in a way that reflects children's rights and experiences.

The same applies to education, healthcare, housing, safeguarding and family policy. Decisions taken in one area often have consequences in another. A child-rights approach helps decision-makers see those connections.

We already see examples of this kind of joined-up thinking in Jersey (the Building a Safer Community framework springs to mind) but it is far from the norm. This is one reason why Child Rights Impact Assessments are so important. They encourage us to step back from individual issues and ask broader questions. How will this decision affect children across the spectrum of their human rights? Whose voices have been heard? Are different groups of children affected in different ways?

These are not barriers to decision-making. They are tools for better decision-making and change that promote and protect children’s rights.

Nor is this about criticising a new government before it has begun its work. Quite the opposite. The questions raised during ministerial appointments and the debates that accompanied them reflected very clearly the complexity of the issues they now face. Safeguarding, online safety, educational inclusion, mental health and children's social care are all significant challenges. No one would pretend otherwise.

The opportunity lies in approaching these challenges not as separate problems, but as connected parts of a wider picture. Because ultimately, children's rights do not belong to one Minister. They do not sit within a single department. They are relevant to every decision-maker and every area of public policy, as each of these has a duty to progress children’s rights.

The role of the Office of the Children's Commissioner is not to tell government what choices to make. It is to help ensure that, whatever choices are made, children and young people remain visible within them and that their rights are properly considered.

As Jersey develops a new Common Strategic Policy, this presents an opportunity to do exactly that.

The question is not only whether children and young people should feature within the government's priorities. It is also whether they will provide a unifying lens through which those priorities are viewed.

If we want a Jersey where children truly enjoy the best start in life and the best childhoods possible, children's rights cannot be treated as one issue among many. They must be part of the system through which all issues are understood. That is how rights move beyond aspiration. And that is how lasting progress is made.