This chapter explores Gilligan’s concept of the “public child” in relation to media and policy discourses surrounding children in Australia. Used to designate a real child or group of children whose lives have become objects of public scrutiny (Gilligan, Éire-Ireland (St. Paul), 44(1), 265–290, 2009; Powell & Scanlon, Dark secrets of childhood: Media power, child abuse and public scandals. Policy Press, 2015), the public child takes on an imagined quality—a figure shaped by pervasive childhood discourses onto which society’s fears and hopes are projected. The chapter argues that the discursive repertoires surrounding the public child take on heightened significance in an increasingly “mediatized” society, where media logics inform governmental activities and serve as a primary conduit for political communication. Positioning children as either at risk or a risk, children’s lives become objects of scrutiny, legitimizing state intervention that consolidates control over children rather than advancing their rights. This disproportionately affects some groups more than others, advancing racially driven state intervention under the guise of protection. Challenging the strategic silencing of real children through the trope of the public child, the chapter argues that advancing children’s rights requires adults to listen and respond to their concerns and experiences.