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When the reports of the children's research were finished and printed out, the children presented them to many people including staff from the institutions, the other children there, Government officials and the local public and media. These people reacted in many different ways – some were enthusiastic, interested and even amazed that children were able to conduct actual research and produce such amazing reports, while others, primarily the management and some of the staff from the institutions, found it harder to accept the children’s findings in particular if they seemed ‘critical’ of them.

The institutions: The heads of the institutions reacted to the findings in different ways. Some rejected them completely while others were more willing to talk about them. For example, in a government-run institution in West Kalimantan, the children discussed their findings about punishments with the adults and persuaded them to use less corporal punishment. In one institution in Maluku, some of the staff rejected the findings that physical punishments was often used but after the other children in the audience confirmed that this was true, the staff agreed that other staff might have used physical punishment before but that they would not do so now.

Government officials in Maluku: In Maluku, there was an exhibition about the children's research, including the findings and the process of doing the research. Many people in Maluku were very enthusiastic about this – it was the first time there had been an exhibition like this in Maluku, which is a post-conflict area, and seeing children from both Islamic and Christian institutions working together like this was praised by some officials as being constructive to prevent future conflict.

The Ministry of Social Affairs, in Bandung: The children (represented by 13 of the 60 children) were able to present their research findings and discuss them directly with the Minister for Social Affairs and the Directors in charge of social services for children. They received a positive response. The children presented the key findings from the six research reports and held a dialogue with the Minister on their recommendations and concerns. Presenting their research findings to the Minister had been a key request from the children who had addressed a number of recommendations to the Ministry. The dialogue was a major step forward for a Ministry which has not always been open to children’s participation in more than a superficial way. For the Minister to agree to meet separately and receive questions and answers from children on substantive issues which they had researched was therefore a major first and one that was hard won. The Minister was clearly impressed by the results of the children’s research and he commended them for that while recognising that some of the challenges and recommendations identified by them would not necessarily be easily met including the need for better funding bases for the institutions, the lack of adequate transport to go to school and the need for scholarships so that children could go on to higher education once they left the institutions.

Children were also able to present their findings in a major workshop at the National School of Social work to teachers and students. They also presented the photos from their research in a big exhibition.

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