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Website Updates

Conferences - 13/08/2008
Links - 30/06/2008
Presentations 26/05/2008

19 August 2008 - The Australian Institute of Family Studies has pleasure in inviting you and your colleagues to attend a seminar - Think Child, Think Family, Think Community: Building the Capacity of Adult Services to Respond to the Needs of Vulnerable Children by Professor Dorothy Scott Director, Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia. Further information is available on the website of the Australian Institute of Family Studies This is a special 2008 National Child Protection Week event.
13 August 2008 - NGO Service Provider's Library Membership - If you are a service provider in a field related to child abuse prevention, working for a not-for-profit, non-government organisation in Australia, then you are entitled to membership of the Institute's Library. For further information and application form see Library Membership Offer for NGO Service Providers in Australia.
8 August 2008 - The Sexualisation of Children: New Senate Report - The Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts has recently published a report on the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media environment, including radio and television, children's magazines, other print and advertising material and the Internet. The report makes a number of recommendations including suggestions to parents to assist them in managing the influences to which children are exposed through the media.
5 August 2008 - Research Report - Contact with the South Australian Child Protection System. This study has undertaken longitudinal statistical analysis of the Families SA Client Information System in order to explore the extent to which a cohort of children (born in 1991) have come into contact with the South Australian child protection system, the nature of the contact, outcomes and patterns. The report can be accessed from the Department for Families and Communities.
31 July 2008 - Family Matters no.79 is now available. The theme for this issue of Family Matters is Parenting with Care.
30 July 2008 - Community and Disability Services Ministers' Advisory Council (CDSMAC) National Approach for Child Protection Project: Report and fact sheet are available now. This project examined at a high-level the similarities and differences in child protection across Australian jurisdictions.
29 July 2008 - A new publication is available from the website of the NSW Commission for Children and Young People: Trends in Child Deaths in New South Wales 1996-2005. This new report by the NSW Child Death Review Team examines ten years of information about child deaths in NSW from 1996 to 2005.
25 July 2008 - Presentations from the 10th AIFS Conference held in July 2008 - Families Through Life are now available on the AIFS website.
22 July 2008 - SNAICC's response to the National Child Protection Framework public consultation is now available. Download SNAICC's response to Australia's Children: safe and well - A national framework for protecting Australia's children (PDF 648K).
22 July 2008 - National Aboriginal and Islander Children's Day - 4 August 2008. Launched in 1988 by the Secretariat of National Aboriginal Islander and Childcare, National Aboriginal and Islander Children's Day is celebrated annually on 4 August. Each year, SNAICC has a theme for the Children's Day to highlight a signficant issue, concern or hope for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. This year's theme is 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families - Nurturing Our Children to Flourish'. See Secretariat of National Aboriginal Islander and Childcare for more information about the day.
15 July 2008 - National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Children - extension of time for public responses. In order to receive input from as many community members and key stakeholders as possible, the National Council has extended the deadline for submissions to 5pm Eastern Standard Time on 31 July 2008.
15 July 2008 - The Commissioner for Children Tasmania has publicly commented on the Discussion Paper - "Australia's Children: Safe and Well": A National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children: Discussion Paper for Consultation May 2008. The submission can be accessed from the website of the Commission.
4 July 2008 - The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) recently held its 22nd meeting in Sydney, attended by the Prime Minister, Premiers, Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association, and Commonwealth, State and Territory Treasurers. COAG requested advice from the Community and Disability Services Ministers' Conference on how to improve sharing of information about families and children at risk between governments at the local level and between governments and non-government organisations. COAG noted the work underway on a National Child Protection Framework to improve child protection outcomes and agreed that it would be considered at the December 2008 COAG meeting. In addition, COAG agreed that governments would continue to work together to enhance coordination at the local level to improve prevention and early intervention for families and children at risk. COAG welcomed the role of the National Child Protection Clearinghouse in disseminating best practice nationally. More information about the meeting is available on the COAG website.
3 July 2008 - Foster Care Week is an annual event co-ordinated by the Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies, and will run from 14-20 September 2008. The primary aim of Foster Care Week is to raise the profile of fostering in the wider community by promoting the work done by existing substitute care services. More information is available by accessing the ACWA site.
2 July 2008 - Northern Territory Emergency Response Taskforce: The Taskforce's Final Report to Government is now available online.
1 July 2008 - Children See, Children Do: You are invited to be part of a national social change campaign - to break the cycle of child abuse and neglect. Register now to be part of the NAPCAN Child Protection Week, September 7th-13th.
30 June 2008 - New publications have just been released from the Clearinghouse. They are available either online or in print.
Issues Paper No. 28 - Developing a road map for research: Identifying the priorities for a national child protection research agenda and
Child Abuse Prevention Newsletter V. 16 No. 1
28 June 2008 - Crimes Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Child Protection from Predatory Tourism Offences) Bill 2008: legislation.
27 June 2008 - Rural issues and child abuse: is a new bibliography produced by the Clearinghouse. It covers Australian literature published during the past 5 years: Rural issues and child abuse.
24 June 2008 - Bibliographies: All of the bibliographies on the Clearinghouse website have been updated.
16 June 2008 - In 2006 and 2007, a two-stage survey was undertaken to examine the barriers and facilitators of research use by policy makers, practitioners and other professionals in the Australian child and family welfare sector. The research utilisation project: Research use in the Australian child and family welfare sector by Prue Holzer, Kerry Lewig, Leah Bromfield, and Fiona Arney is now available online.
2 June 2008 - The Queensland Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian has recently released two reports of interest: Views of Children and Young People in Care and Views of Young People in Residential Care. You can access them from the website of the Commission.
29 May 2008 - National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children: The Australian Government has announced the members of its National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children. The Council will be chaired by one of the founders of the Australian White Ribbon Day campaign and international human rights advocate, Libby Lloyd, with support from deputy-chair, Heather Nancarrow, Director of the Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research. The nine other members of the Council are Lisa Wilkinson, Pauline Woodbridge, Vanessa Swan, Dorinda Cox, Andrew O'Keefe, Melanie Heenan, Associate Professor Moira Carmody, Maria Dimopoulos and Rachel Kayrooz.
27 May 2008 - Australia's Children Safe and Well - a national framework for protecting Australia's children: is a discussion paper produced by the Australian Government. You can find out more about the discussion paper or download a copy (PDF 453KB).
27 May 2008 - Helping protect Australia's children from abuse and neglect: As part of their commitment to tackle child abuse and neglect, the Australian Government is developing a National Child Protection Framework. The Australian Government has committed $2.6 million to work with all levels of government, child protection workers and the community sector to establish a national framework to protect all children. More information is available from the medial releases of the Hon Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
26 May 2008 - Presentations made by Leah Bromfield and Prue Holzer to the third national conference for the Australian College for Child and Family Protection Practitioners, Adelaide, 23-25 May, 2008 have been added to the Diary of Events for the National Child Protection Clearinghouse. Ethical responses for vulnerable children and families (PPT 286KB), by Leah M Bromfield and "Getting research into practice" (PPT 2.4MB) by Prue Holzer.
23 May 2008 - National Child Protection Week is scheduled for 7th - 13th September 2008. It is part of an on-going national campaign to break the cycle of child abuse and neglect. The National Campaign will be built around NAPCAN's multi media advertisement, Children See, Children Do. You can find out more about National Child Protection Week and view the advertisement from the NAPCAN site.
18 May 2008 - Australia funds overseas child protection measures: The Commonwealth Government will contribute funds to an initiative run by the Hague Conference to help protect children involved in intercountry adoption. These funds will assist various countries to build infrastructure so that safeguards are developed to ensure intercountry adoptions always take place in the best interests of children. You can view the media release.
16 May 2008 - World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse - 19 November 2008: Launched in 2000, the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse has as its main purpose to create a global culture of prevention of child abuse worldwide. To find out more about the Day, to access reports from previous years, or to become part of the international coalition, go to the Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF).
14 May 2008 - International Partnership to Improve Child Protective Services Data Programs: The International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) and the American Humane Association have formed a partnership to develop a global network to address the needs of child maltreatment data collection programs. You can obtain more information by accessing the ISPCAN Working Group on Child Maltreatment Data.
13 May 2008 - Youth Poll 2008: For 16 years, Senator Stott Despoja has produced Youth Poll to give young people a say on a variety of issues including education, health and employment. This poll, the Senator's last as her Senate term ends on June 30, found that while the internet plays a critical role in young people's lives, more than one-fifth report they or a friend have been bullied or harassed online.
You can find out more about the poll on Senator's Stott Despoja's website.
12 May 2008 - SuperClubsPLUS Australia: is a new link that has been added to the Internet Safety page of the Clearinghouse website. This site aims to equip children with the skills to engage safely on the Internet.
11 May 2008 - Enhancing Systems for Child Protection: Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth (ARACY) is commissioning a major research report as a basis for informing 'organisational strategies and processes that could lead to the development of more effective processes to child protection'. With a focus on preventative strategies, it is expected that the report will 'ultimately assist in reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect in Australia'. Details of the project will be posted on the ARACY website as they become available.
9 May 2008 - Working with families concerned with school-based bullying by Jodie Lodge is a new publication from the Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse (AFRC) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. You can access the paper at: AFRC Briefing No. 11.
8 May 2008 - Trends in Child Maltreatment: New data released by the US federal government show continuing national declines in sexual and physical abuse, but no decline in neglect. While there is currently no consensus on why sexual abuse and physical abuse have declined so substantially, recent research by Crimes Against Children Research Center researchers suggest some possible factors. Read their Bulletin (PDF 274KB) to find out more.
7 May 2008 - Protecting children on the APY Lands: The Australian Government has stated it will commit more than $19 million as part of a new partnership with the South Australian Government to protect children from abuse on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. The plight of young children revealed by the Mullighan Inquiry into child sexual abuse in the APY Lands requires immediate and urgent action by the South Australian and Australian Governments to protect children.
Media release.
6 May 2008 - Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit: is designed to teach basic knowledge, skills, and values about working with children who are in the child welfare system and who have experienced traumatic stress. It also teaches how to use this knowledge to support children's safety, permanency, and well-being through case analysis and corresponding interventions tailored for them and their biological and resource families. The toolkit was developed in America by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and can be downloaded from their website.
2 May 2008 - We have revised the home page of the National Child Protection Clearinghouse, and hope that you like our new and updated look!
1 May 2008 - A list of the Research Projects undertaken by Clearinghouse staff for 2008 has been updated. You will also find a list of completed research projects for the past three years: Research Projects
28 April 2008 - Cooperation and coordination: An evaluation of the Family Court of Australia's Magellan case-management model: This presentation by Dr Daryl Higgins at an Institute seminar on 17 April is now available as a PDF (slides) and as an MP3 (audio of presentation).
http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/seminars/seminarpapers.html#higgins.
24 April 2008 - Search capabilities: Have you tried the new search capabilities on the Clearinghouse website? There is a search box on the top of each page. You can search across the entire site, as well as the other sites of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. We would welcome your feedback.
21 April 2008 - Mullighan Inquiry: The South Australian state government has tabled in Parliament the report from Commissioner Ted Mullighan resulting from the Commission of Inquiry into Children in State Care. You can download the report.
15 April 2008 - Submission to the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW: This submission draws on research to analyse systemic issues in child protection services and their underlying drivers, and to identify innovative and promising approaches to addressing the key challenges in the delivery of child protection services. You can view this document from the Submissions page of the Clearinghouse website.
14 April 2008 - Shared Parental Responsibility in Australian Family Law and the Impact on Children Seminar: Additional information about this seminar held by the The Centre for Peace, Conflict and Mediation at the Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, held 13-15 April, is now available from the website of the
Hawke Research Institute.
4 April 2008 - Senator Andrew Bartlett has introduced a National Commissioner for Children Bill 2008 in the Senate. For more information on the Bill and his speech to the Senate, you can access Senator Bartlett's website.
2 April 2008 - Report Card on the Wellbeing of Young Australians: ARACY - the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth - is developing a Report Card that will enable key indicators of the health and well being of Australian children and youth to be monitored over time. Further details on the ARACY Report Card are available on the ARACY website.
1 April 2008 - The index to the Publications page has been updated to give users a full description of the the different types of publications produced by the Clearinghouse: Publications menu page.
26 March 2008 - Resource Sheets: The following three resource sheets from the Clearinghouse have been updated: Child abuse statistics; Fatal child abuse; and Foster care. You can view the revised resource sheets and also see what other resource sheets have been compiled by Clearinghouse staff on the menu page.
26 March 2008 - 6th National Families Week 11-17 May 2008: Work and Family - Getting the Balance Right: All Australians, particularly working parents and employers, are urged to find ways to generate ideas and take actions which will improve work-family balance for themselves and others. To find out more about National Families Week, visit Families Australia.
25 March 2008 - Impact of parent fatigue on family life: New research is being undertaken with parents of young children which will investigate the impact of fatigue on family life, as well as explore the links between fatigue and depression. This survey of parent well being aims to assists in determining the level of fatigue that families are coping with on a daily basis, as well as identifying any potential impact on parenting. More information is available from the Parenting Research Centre.
18 March 2008 - çThe Australian Institute of Family Studies has pleasure in inviting you and your colleagues to attend a seminar on Cooperation and coordination: an evaluation of the Family Court of Australia's Magellan case-management model by Dr Daryl Higgins, General Manager (Research), Australian Institute of Family Studies. Further information is available on the website of the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
17 March 2008 - Two new publications are available from the website of the NSW Commission for Children and Young People:
Trends in the fatal assault of children in NSW: 1996-2005 - a report on deaths of children from assault, released by the Child Death Review Team for consideration by the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales; and
From a child protection system to a system for protecting children - a submission to the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW: Dr Judy Cashmore, Professor Dorothy Scott, Commissioner Gillian Calvert.
4 March 2008 - canDL is a searchable database of citations of publications related to the datasets that are distributed by NDACAN, the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect. You may also sign up for an RSS feed to keep you up to date on what new articles have been added to canDL
3 March 2008 - EURONET is a coalition of networks and organisations campaigning for the interests and rights of children in Europe. You can find more information about EURONET on the links page of the National Child Protection Clearinghouse.
27 February 2008 - Child Wise is running a series of information sessions for parents, carers and organisations working with children to learn what child abuse is and how to keep children safe from harm. These sessions are being held nationally and will inform you about what child abuse is; how to recognise the signs of abuse; how child sexual abusers target children; how to report abuse; talking to your children about issues of safety; and choosing child safe organisations and activities for our children. These sessions are being held throughout April and May. Further information is available from Child Wise.
25 February 2008 - The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health across the Lifespan is a new publication avaiilable from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The publication summarises the research on childhood stress and its implications for adult health and well being. Of particular interest is the stress caused by child abuse, neglect, and repeated exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). This publication provides violence prevention practitioners with ideas about how to incorporate information on childhood stress into their work.
The publication can be downloaded as a PDF file from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health across the Lifespan (PDF 7.2MB)
20 February 2008 - New publications have just been released from the Clearinghouse. They are available either online or in print.
Issues paper no.27 - Family group conferencing in Australia 15 years on and
Child Abuse Prevention Newsletter vol.15 no.2
19 February 2008 - Helen Buckley's presentation from the recent AIFS Seminar titled Engagement, analysis and reflectiveness: Developing a Framework for the Assessment of Vulnerable Children and Their Families is now available as a PDF (slides) and as an MP3 (audio of presentation).
18 February 2008 - The Newsletter section of the Publications page of the Clearinghouse has been updated to give you more information about the articles for each issue of the newsletter. We'd be interested in your feedback.
15 February 2008 - Senator Bartlett is to move on the next day of sitting that the following bill be introduced: A Bill for an Act to establish an Office of National Commissioner for Children and Young People, and for related purposes. National Commissioner for Children Bill 2008.
1 February 2008 - National Child Protection Framework: The Australian Government has given a commitment to commence work to develop a National Child Protection Framework. This week, representatives of the Coalition of Organisations Committed to the Safety and Wellbeing of Australia's Children met with the Hon. Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs to discuss the development and implementation of the Framework. Further information is available on the website of Families Australia.
31 January 2008 - Family Matters no.77, has just been released! Family relationships and the new family law system are the main foci of this edition. Other articles report on research about programs to help stepfamilies and pre-marriage education, and parent child relationships when fathers work long hours. Media release.
26 January 2008 - Child Protection Australia 2006-07 published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was released today. This publication is available online from the AIHW website: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10566.
25 January 2008 - NSW Special Inquiry into Child Protection: was a forum hosted by ACWA, in Sydney on 23 January 2008. The slides from this presentation by Leah Bromfield on Trends in child protection services: a national snapshot have now been uploaded on the Clearinghouse website. They are available from the NCPC diary of events.
15 January 2008 - Charter for Children in Out-of-home Care: In partnership with the Children, Youth and Families Division of the Victorian Department of Human Services, the Victorian Child Safety Commissioner is promoting a charter for children in out-of-home care. This charter lists the rights and privileges that children have, and has been especially prepared for children who cannot live with their parents and are in out-of-home care. A copy of the charter is available at: http://www.ocsc.vic.gov.au/downloads/charter_flyer.pdf.
14 January 2008 - Carers' Charter: Work has commenced on the development of a charter for carers entitled, Supporting Care Relationships - a Victorian Charter. The Charter is intended for a range of carers including: carers of people with a disability, carers of frail older people and people with dementia, carers of people with a mental illness, foster carers, kinship carers and permanent carers. It is estimated that there are more than 270,000 carers in Victoria, around 5,000 of which care for children through foster care, kinship care and permanent care. More information about the Carers' Charter is available at: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/agedcare/policy/carers.htm.
10 January 2008 - NSW Child Protection Commission: The NSW government has announced the formation of a new Child Protection Commission, to be headed by the chairman of the Law Reform Commission. The Commission will investigate ways of improving services and freeing-up case workers. Additional information about the establishment of the Commission is available in the November-December 2007 issue of the publication: Inside Out.
6 January 2008 - Sentencing snapshots on child sex offences released: These reports contain statistics on sentencing outcomes for people sentenced for these offences in the higher courts of Victoria. The reports form part of a statistical series known as Sentencing Snapshots that present summary statistics on sentencing in Victoria, and contain previously unpublished statistics on sentence types, lengths and non-parole periods, as well as the age and gender of people sentenced for these offences in the higher courts of Victoria. They also examine the range of offences finalised at the same sentencing hearing. Information about the reports can be accessed on the Victorian government's site on: Sentencing Snapshots.
5 January 2008 - New interim mental health safeguards to enhance safety of children: Queensland Health has implemented new interim arrangements for the safety of children with parents discharged following mental health involuntary treatment orders. For further information accesss the home page of Queensland Health.
3 January 2008 - Western Australia's inaugural Commissioner for Children and Young People, Michelle Scott, received her Commission on December 7th. As the independent Commissioner, accountable to the WA Parliament, Ms Scott acts as an advocate for children and young people, and safeguards and promotes the well being of all children and young people in WA, especially Aboriginal children and those who who are disadvantaged or at risk.
A national snapshot of Children's Commissioners can be found at: www.aifs.gov.au/nch/resources/commissioners/commissioners.html.
24 December 2007 - Pathway to prevention of child abuse and neglect is now available on the website of the Pathway Mapping Initiative. Information about their site and a link to their publications is available on the Pathways to Outcomes site.
10 December 2007 - Latest resources in Australia and New Zealand from the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) are available from the CRIN website
7 December 2007 - UN Special Sesssion on Children: what now? - A commemorative high-level plenary meeting will be held in New York, 11-12 December, to evaluate progress in implementing A World Fit for Children, the outcome document of the UN Special Session which took place in New York in 2002. Read more at the: UN Special Session on Children
5 December 2007 - Creating child friendly communities: challenges and contradictions - The address presented to the NAPCAN Annual General Meeting made by Alan Hayes is available on the AIFS site:
http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/papers/2007/hayes-napcan.pdf
12 November 2007 - Children's voices in research: Some reflections on the ethics and outcomes of participatory research with children: This presentation, by Gillian Calvert and Trish Malins of the NSW Commission for Children and Young People, will broadly consider the theme of children's participation in research. They will provide an overview of a recent large-scale qualitative research project conducted by the NSW Commission for Children and Young People with the Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre, University of Western Sydney. Further information: Australian Institute of Family Studies, http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/seminars/seminars.html
1 November 2007 - Cooperation and coordination: An evaluation of the Family Court of Australia's Magellan case-management model, by Daryl Higgins for the Family Court of Australia. This report evaluates the interagency collaborative model of case management in the Family Court of Australia for responding to serious allegations of sexual or physical abuse raised in parenting matters: http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/magellan/index.html
30 October 2007 - Working together to respond to children and young people affected by family violence : Information from this forum held by the Victorian Department of Human Services, Children Youth and Families is now available online: Family Violence Practice Forum
12 October 2007 - 'Getting the big picture': A synopsis and critique of Australian out-of-home care research, a new issues paper by Leah Bromfield and Alexandra Osborn. Also resulting from this research, a series of Research Briefs on: Outcomes for children and young people in care; Foster families; Issues relating to reunification; Participation of children and young people in care in decisions affecting their lives; Young people leaving care; Cultural considerations in out-of-home care; and, Residential and specialised models of care.
1 October 2007 - Australian legal definitions: when is a child in need of protection? is a new resource sheet which has been added to the Clearinghouse collection. It has been compiled by Prue Holzer and Leah Bromfield, and is avaiilable at http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs12/rs12.html.