This Fact Sheet was prepared to coincide with National Child Protection Week, 7-13 September 2008. It presents an overview of child protection in Australia, including how child abuse and neglect is defined, its prevalence, the costs of child maltreatment, and prevention and early intervention strategies.

The purpose of the National Approach for Child Protection Project is to provide high-level descriptions of key processes and approaches to the delivery of child protection services across Australia. Statutory child protection is the responsibility of State and Territory Governments; however, Australian Government funded services that focus of prevention and early intervention aim to complement...

Family group conferences were first legislated for in New Zealand in 1989 and since that time have captured the imagination of professionals and academics with their capacity to involve families and communities in a collaborative approach to child welfare concerns. Child protection systems in Australia, as in many other countries, have subsequently introduced conferencing programs...

The aim of the report’s authors was to bridge the gulf between knowledge and action, especially with reference to the Australian child welfare sector. Research evidence can powerfully inform policy and practice. Too often, however, this is not the case.

In this paper Ellen Fish, Leah Bromfield and Daryl Higgins explore this somewhat controversial phenomenon and discusses the implications of FIIC for practitioners working to protect children from harm.