The Family Court is one of the most controversial institutions in Australia. It’s also one of the least scrutinised. In a number of Family Court cases, where claims of child sexual abuse have been made against a father, the court has switched care from the...

In some jurisdictions of Australia, the rate of Indigenous children in foster, kinship and residential care on any one night has reached almost one in ten. This rate is almost ten times higher than non-Aboriginal children and has steadily increased over the past decade. Contrast...

This presentation is about a study exploring child protection practitioner decision-making about the placement of children in out-of-home care. A brief measure, 'the child placement questionnaire' was developed. Following evaluation by experts in child protection research, policy and practice, it was piloted with 53 child...

The Australian government recently announced a parliamentary inquiry to investigate whether a legal presumption of joint residence should become part of Australian family law - that is, if parents separate and cannot agree on arrangements for their children, the starting point should be that children...