It is increasingly recognised that experiences of child maltreatment are rarely isolated incidents; different forms of abuse often co-occur, and trauma often develops over prolonged periods. This paper provides practitioners, policy-makers and researchers with an overview of a number of influential recent approaches to conceptualising, recognising and responding to the complexity of child maltreatment and...

The foundations of good social and emotional development are formed in early infant-parent and caregiver relationships (Centre for Community Child Health, 2009). In developing those relationships, families and caregivers ensure that their child develops on a healthy trajectory. With strong foundations, each child can go on to develop the capacity to manage life’s struggles and...

Each child’s social and emotional development is guided by their family and by the wider community and environment in which they are raised. The culture that the child is raised in will also impact on their upbringing and the way that their family and community interacts with them and develops expectations of them.

This Policy Brief documents current research findings about children’s mental health; it suggests the need for increased awareness of children’s mental health concerns and emphasises the importance of early prevention and intervention. In Australia, there has been significantly increased awareness of mental illness and a major increase in available funding. However, mental health in early...

There has been growing interest in the implications of paternal fly-in/fly-out employment (FIFO) for families and children. The current research had a dual aim, first to investigate children’s well-being in relation to family functioning and paternal FIFO employment characteristics and, second, to access children’s own experience, perceptions and attitudes about the FIFO lifestyle and employment-related...