Two in five Australian children live in households with more complex family relationships at some stage during their childhood. Key Findings “Complex” households are simply non-traditional households, where children may live with: a single parent; a non-biological parent; step or half-siblings (i.e., “blended” families); or a grandparent. The term may seem to imply that there...

Analysis of Australian longitudinal data, collected through the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children and the Australian Temperament Project, affirms that what happens early in a child’s life can continue to exert an effect throughout childhood. This creates a theoretical window of opportunity to improve a child’s development trajectory over the longer term. Early childhood interventions...

The Family Group Conference (FGC) process seeks to hold children and young people accountable for their offending, while also encouraging them to change their behaviour and not reoffend. FGCs are the cornerstone of the youth justice system in New Zealand. However, there is a lack of evidence in New Zealand as to whether youth justice...

Summary This report provides an overview of permanency planning and long-term care for children in out-of-home care, noting current concepts and describing available data and development work being undertaken to improve national reporting. The importance of achieving permanency for children and young people in out-of-home care is widely recognised. However, standardised collection and reporting of...

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission) is inquiring into how institutions have engaged with and responded to allegations and instances of institutional child sexual abuse. Key to this inquiry is the need to generate an understanding of the extent of child sexual abuse in Australia. Determining the prevalence...