From journal articles to Quick Guides and webinars, you will find tools and information to support.
The Medical Journal of Australia published the Australian Child Maltreatment Study, surveying over 8,500 Australians aged 16-65. It highlights widespread child maltreatment in Australia and its links to mental disorders, health risk behaviours, and conditions. This study is relevant for practitioners, offering insights into prevalence and impact while emphasising the importance of primary prevention and urgent action.
The Western Sydney University review of 25 programs on reducing maltreatment of vulnerable children identified effective models and common components, such as flexible engagement, relationship-building, parental capacity development, and strong case management, providing valuable insights for practitioners.
This chapter is part of a larger work on child maltreatment and takes a prevention-focused approach to child abuse and neglect by drawing on lessons from the public health sector. The authors argue that a public health approach can help refocus attention on the structural forces affecting families and improving safety and wellbeing outcomes for children.
This report from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) examines the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among young people in the youth justice system based on a South Australian sample. The study had many prevalent findings and provided suggestions on supporting these young people.
This article published in Child Abuse and Neglect by researchers from around the world investigates children’s risk for maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic by examining child maltreatment reports and child protective services responses across 12 regions. The research found that the pandemic has caused disruption to in-person services which has had substantial negative impacts on the operation of child protective services across all countries included in the study.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released this web report providing baseline data from a new national data collection on the safety and abuse of children in care. The report found that 1,442 children were the subject of a substantiation of abuse in care, of whom 46 per cent were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The AIHW will undertake ongoing monitoring and reporting of this issue, with improvements and expansion of data collection taking place over time.
Part two of his two part report from UNICEF presents a conversation with experts on research priorities, measurement and ethics for collecting data with these vulnerable groups. This is framed in the context of COVID-19, which may lead to an increased risk of violence as a result of compounding structural, interpersonal and individual-level risk factors - including the increased economic strain placed on families, stay-at-home orders, school closures and other COVID-19 response measures.
Published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), the Protecting Australia's Children: Research and Evaluation Register is a searchable database of 943 research and evaluation projects conducted between 2011 and 2015. The Register provides a range of filtering options to enable easy access to recent research in the area of child protection.
New research funded by the US Department of Justice seeks to understand the processes through which child abuse leads to antisocial and criminal behaviour in later life. Participants were drawn from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, one of the longest running national studies examining the long-term effects of child abuse and neglect. Results showed that childhood abuse increased the risk of adulthood crime by promoting antisocial behaviour during childhood and adolescence, followed by the formation of relationships with antisocial partners and peers in adulthood.
