Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect is a complex yet essential responsibility tasked to many professional groups working with children, including the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce. This paper provides a narrative review synthesising the empirical literature on factors influencing ECEC educators' reporting of child…

Purpose: Protecting children from mistreatment is a global concern, and further research and evaluation in child protection services is required. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) has demonstrated potential, but to date, there is no systematic review of studies that evaluate the application of CQI in child protection. Method: This systematic…

Australian teachers are mandated to report instances of child maltreatment should they suspect a child is being maltreated. Some teachers are reluctant to make a report based on suspicion alone. This review examines the barriers that may prevent teachers from reporting. It is suggested that to overcome these barriers and form a reasonable belief…

In spite of research demonstrating conceptual weakness in many child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention programmes and outdated modes of delivery, students continue to participate in a diversity of initiatives. Referring to the development of a games-based approach to CSA prevention in Australia, this paper examines empirically based attributes of…

Every Australian citizen expects state and territory governments to protect children from child abuse and neglect. Protecting children from harm is seen as good. This however is not a simple matter. The ultimate act in protecting children is to remove them from parental care. This causes trauma for the child and pain and distress for parents no…

A recent report delivered by the Australian Centerer for Child Protection has highlighted the need for empirical evidence of effective pedagogies for supporting teaching and learning of child protection content in Australian teacher education programs (Arnold & Mai-Taddeo, 2007). This paper advances this call by presenting case study accounts…

While legislative frameworks prescribe the legal obligations of the parents to protect and nurture their children, there is no equivalent legal framework requiring and sanctioning the conduct of agents of the state who act in loco parentis. In consequence some children continue to be "at risk" and may even be in greater danger once the…

Current research demonstrates relationships between child abuse and neglect, homelessness and criminal activity. This report presents key findings from analysis of a data set linking three community-sector data collections: Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP), juvenile justice supervision, and child protection notifications and…

Objectives: (1) To identify which United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recommended child protection (CP) measures, such as policy, reporting systems, and services for child abuse and neglect (CAN) victims, individually or in combination, were most important in establishing a basic level of child protection in 42 countries;…

In this resource sheet, Dr Higgins examines child abuse and neglect in Indigenous communities from a societal perspective: applying a community development framework to understand effective strategies for reducing risks and enhancing children's safety and wellbeing. To be effective, strategies to address the problem of child abuse in Indigenous…

The prevalence of child abuse and neglect is an international concern that justifies the existence of child protection systems. An important first principle for all such statutory child protection systems is to ensure that the system itself does no further harm. It can be argued that there are specific circumstances within which well-meaning…

Many regional and local Departments of Education in many countries now require their primary school teachers to be mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse. However, many student-teachers are not provided with courses on child protection and its policy requirements during their pre-service university education. So, how do student-teachers source,…

This report provides a snapshot of the academic performance, as assessed by literacy and numeracy test scores, of children on guardianship or custody orders in 2003. The educational performance of these children are compared with all children sitting these tests, and differences in academic performance between particular subgroups of children on…

This booklet discusses the problem of child abuse in Australia, profiles four child abuse prevention programs, and provides practical suggestions for early childhood educators to help prevent child abuse. The profiled sexual abuse prevention and awareness programs include: (1) CARE Kit, which includes workshops for community agencies, parents, and…

This paper argues the importance of moving beyond the state of affairs that makes victims "either" of children "or" of teachers by exploring the conditions of possibility for the idea of a victimless school. The argument is developed drawing data from a study being conducted by the authors into the impact of risk management on…