From journal articles to Quick Guides and webinars, you will find tools and information to support.
The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has released this report examining the Department of Education and Training’s (DET) management of the Navigator Program and assessing whether the delivery of the program is effectively re-engaging students in education and achieving outcomes for students. The audit found that DET is unable to demonstrate the effectiveness or equitable delivery of Navigator. The report makes four recommendations.
This report from researchers at Latrobe University and Federation University Australia examines the access, geo-demographic profile, course selection, success, retention, and completion rates of care leavers across the two universities. The study found that a whole of life cycle approach to supporting care-experienced students is needed to address the compounding disadvantages they often face. The report noted that the outreach and recruitment strategies adopted by La Trobe University and Federation University Australia, supported by the Raising Expectations program – which is led by the Centre in partnership with the two universities and Swinburne University – show the potential to increase enrolments dramatically through targeted actions. The researchers make eight recommendations.
This report from the Institute of Child Protection Studies at Australian Catholic University explores emerging trends, issues and needs in the child welfare workforce and the educational profile of this workforce. The study found that the tertiary component of the child welfare workforce within jurisdictional statutory welfare agencies is predominantly tertiary-qualified, however limitations in data availability prevented a more detailed analysis. The report concludes that the workforce is facing significant challenges that are getting in the way of a transition to a public health model of child welfare provision in Australia.
This guide supports organisational congruence in trauma-informed care by emphasising staff well-being. It provides strategies to address secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout.
The University of Melbourne has released this report investigating the current state of knowledge on the extent and nature of violence against women with disability in Australia, and on ‘what works’ to prevent violence from happening. The study found that the evidence base on ‘what works’ is small. Disability service settings, disability support workers and educational settings were identified by women with disability as the settings with the most promise for primary prevention action.
This study, published in BMC Primary Care, sought to understand how GPs and nurses experience the response to child abuse in primary healthcare. The study found that mandatory reporting obligations created significant emotional labour at the internal, organisational and systemic levels as participants struggled to maintain the therapeutic relationship. The article concludes with strategies that can be employed to reduce the labour burden, which can also be applied by other workforces with mandatory reporting obligations.
ANROWS has released this research report as part of the What works: Overviews of reviews series. This study outlines the state of the evidence from existing systematic reviews in relation to the effectiveness of crisis and post-crisis interventions for victims and survivors of sexual violence. It found that the most evaluated crisis response interventions were sexual assault response teams and sexual assault nurse examiner programs, and while there is emerging evidence that these are effective across several outcomes, the evidence base is limited and the quality of the evidence overall is poor. Evaluations of post-crisis responses were found to be similarly small and lacking methodological rigour despite some evidence of improved mental health outcomes.
The Mitchell Institute at Victoria University has released this report investigating access to centre-based day care in Australia. The study used spatial measurement techniques to map the supply of childcare and compared this to demand across most parts of Australia. It found that 35.2 per cent of the population live in neighbourhoods with the scarcest childcare availability, and these neighbourhoods tend to have greater relative disadvantage or a higher population of culturally and linguistically diverse people.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies has released its final evaluation report on the impact of the Australian Government’s Child Care Package. The evaluation found that the Child Care Subsidy reduced the net cost of child care for 62.2 per cent of families using child care, with low-income families amongst those who benefit most. It also found that beyond the subsidy, the package has had limited impact despite its intention to see improvements in areas such as access and employment outcomes.
