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Protecting Children is Everyone's Business

Why we need to work together to protect Australia's children

 

All children1 have the right to be safe and to receive loving care and support. Children also have a right to receive the services they need to enable them to succeed in life. Parents have the primary responsibility for raising their children, and ensuring that these rights are upheld.

We recognise that the best way to protect children is to prevent child abuse and neglect from occurring in the first place. To do this, we need to build capacity and strength in our families and communities, across the nation.

The vast majority of parents - supported by the community and the broad range of government supports and services available to all families - have the capacity to raise happy and healthy children. But some families need more help. And in some cases, statutory child protection responses will be required.

The investment by governments and the non-government sector into family support and child protection services is significant, yet our separate efforts still fail many children and young people (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision 2009).2 We need a unified approach that recognises that the protection of children is not simply a matter for the statutory child protection systems.

Protecting children is everyone's responsibility.

Families, communities, governments, business and services all have a role. And we need to work together.

What is the problem?

In 2007-08, there were 55,120 reports of child abuse and neglect substantiated by child protection services.

For the first time since national data collection there was a reduction in child abuse substantiations from the previous year (2006-07). This is a promising indication that substantial increases in family support may be effective at preventing child abuse and neglect. Data in future years will tell us if this trend continues.

Despite this, the rate has more than doubled over the past 10 years and the number of children subject to child abuse and neglect remains unacceptably high. Indigenous children also remain significantly over-represented. Indigenous children are six times more likely to be the subject of a substantiation than other children (AIHW 2009).

Some of the increases over time are a result of changing social values and better knowledge about the safety and wellbeing of children. Child protection services were originally established in response to serious physical abuse. Now, in response to changing community expectations, they address physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and domestic violence. These changes have been a major driver of increased demand on child protection services (Bromfield & Holzer 2008).

Emotional abuse and neglect are now the most commonly substantiated types of child maltreatment, followed by physical abuse (AIHW 2009). However, research shows that many children experience sexual abuse, and that it is often undetected or not reported to authorities (ABS 2006; Morrison 2007).

As a community we have been shocked and concerned to hear of children who were not identified or adequately protected by welfare systems – for some, their suffering was not known until after their deaths. Systems and procedures such as mandatory reporting requirements have been developed to try to better identify those children who have experienced or are at-risk of abuse or neglect. For many people concerned about a child or family, their first (and perhaps only) response is to make a report to child protection services (Bromfield & Holzer 2008).

Substantial numbers of children and their families now come to the attention of child protection services. In 2007-08, there were 317,526 reports to child protection services in Australia. The vast majority of these reports were not substantiated – meaning the report was assessed and a child protection response was not required at that time. In these cases, other forms of support would have been a more appropriate response.

The numbers of children being removed from their parents has also more than doubled over the past decade. At 30 June 2008, there were 31,166 young people in out-of-home care (AIHW 2009). Children in out-of-home care experience significantly poorer long-term outcomes, particularly where the child did not experience stable care placements (Cashmore & Paxman 2006). Each year in a small number of terrible cases, children die as a result of child abuse and/or neglect. The exact numbers are difficult to ascertain due to reporting limitations.

What needs to change?

Australia needs to move from seeing 'protecting children' merely as a response to abuse and neglect to one of promoting the safety and wellbeing of children. Leading researchers and practitioners – both in Australia and overseas – have suggested that applying a public health model to care and protection will deliver better outcomes for our children and young people and their families (Holzer 2007; O'Donnell, Scott, & Stanley 2008; Scott 2006; ARACY 2007). The components of such a system are illustrated in Figure 1.

Under a public health model, priority is placed on having universal supports available for all families (for example, health and education). More intensive (secondary) prevention interventions are provided to those families that need additional assistance with a focus on early intervention. Tertiary child protection services are a last resort, and the least desirable option for families and governments.

Just as a health system is more than hospitals so a system for the protection of children is more than a statutory child protection service.

Figure 1 – A system for protecting children

In reality, Australia's child welfare service systems more closely resemble an hourglass than a pyramid. As demands on child protection services have grown, the size of child protection services have grown to meet that demand. Child protection services cannot provide a response to all vulnerable children and their families.

A public health model offers a different approach with a greater emphasis on assisting families early enough to prevent abuse and neglect occurring. It seeks to involve other professionals, families and the wider community – enhancing the variety of systems that can be used to protect children and recognising that protecting children is everyone's responsibility (Higgins & Katz 2008).

Ultimately, the aim of a public health approach is to reduce the occurrence of child abuse and neglect and to provide the most appropriate response to vulnerable families and those in which abuse or neglect has already occurred.

A national approach for protecting Australia's children

Australia needs a shared agenda for change, with national leadership and a common goal.

Recognising that the safety and wellbeing of children is the responsibility of all levels of government, the Australian Government has led the development of the National Framework, working closely with States and Territories.

Similar challenges are being faced across the nation. State and Territory governments currently spend in excess of $2 billion annually on child protection alone, with average annual increases of more than 12 per cent.

State and Territory governments are currently implementing reforms to their statutory child protection systems - all focused on early intervention. But for these reforms to be truly effective, they need to be coordinated with Australian Government programs, policies and payments - a large part of the early intervention response.

The National Framework will deliver a more integrated response but does not change the responsibilities of governments. States and Territories retain responsibility for statutory child protection, as the Australian Government retains responsibility for providing income support payments. The National Framework also recognises the significant existing efforts and reforms which are being undertaken by governments across Australia in protecting children and supporting families. A summary of existing effort and reforms underway in each State and Territory is at Appendix A.

It does however, involve a commitment from all parties to focus our own efforts on protecting children to, and work together better in areas of shared responsibility. It also involves a commitment to better link the many supports and services we provide – avoiding duplication, coordinating planning and implementation and better sharing of information and innovation. Naturally, the span of activity required to support these outcomes means that new efforts will build on and link with existing initiatives to achieve the best possible outcomes.

A National Framework provides an opportunity to drive improvements across all systems and all jurisdictions. National leadership will provide the momentum for key national projects – such as data, research, information sharing and national consistency in critical areas. A National Framework also provides a mechanism for engaging the non-government sector and the broader community on a national level.


  1. Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the Convention, the term 'child' is defined as anyone under the age of 18 years. This National Framework follows that definition.
  2. The estimated total recurrent expenditure on child protection and out-of-home care services was $2 billion in 2007–08, an increase of 13.5 per cent on the previous financial year

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