When children experience domestic and family violence (DFV), it disrupts that right and can have long-lasting impacts on their health and wellbeing. This report sheds new light on DFV and children’s mental health, presenting findings from a population-based retrospective cohort study of children born in Western Australia between 1987 and 2010.

This study used de-identified individual-level linked administrative data of children born 1987–2010, in Western Australia, who were exposed to FDV in the prenatal period (12 months prior to birth) to five years of age (early years). Exposed children have an increased likelihood for hospitalisation than non-exposed children.

Early childhood is a critical time to address risk factors associated with developmental vulnerability. This study investigates the associations between clusters of early life risk factors and developmental vulnerability in children’s first year of full-time school at age 5.