From journal articles to Quick Guides and webinars, you will find tools and information to support.
This report from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) is the first of two reports that will explore how services and systems can better respond to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV) who come to the attention of child protection systems. The evidence review found that the voices of Aboriginal children are largely silent in the literature despite the extensive impacts of DFV on their lives and that this concerning outcome is driven by a service system focused on adults.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has released this report synthesising the views of children, young people and families who were consulted to inform the first five-year action plans of Safe and Supported: The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021-2031. Participants identified housing, mental health and help with basic needs as the most important supports to help children, young people and families to be safe. The report contains 55 recommended actions.
The Senate Community Affairs References Committee has released its inquiry report on the purpose, intent and adequacy of the Disability Support Pension (DSP). The committee found serious flaws with the DSP, its underlying policy framework, the way that it is administered, and how applicants are able to access it. The report makes 30 recommendations.
This study from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research analysed Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) data to explore the prevalence and characteristics of vocational education and training (VET) as a re-engagement pathway for early school leavers. The study found that 63 per cent of early school leavers who re-engaged with education did so via VET. A key finding was that an important predictor of educational re-engagement for early school leavers was having parents with aspirations for them.
The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education at Curtin University and the University of Wollongong have released this report investigating risks to university completion for students from regional, rural and remote locations of Australia. Drawing on interviews and surveys with university students, the study found that key enablers of university completion included individual strengths and qualities, strong networks of support from family and community, and belongingness and connectedness.
This second report in a series on education inequity from the Centre for Social Impact at UNSW Sydney identifies levers of change to address five of the 11 drivers of educational inequity identified in the first report: lack of accessible and responsive early childhood education and care; disconnection between education setting, home and community; bullying, discrimination and social isolation; one-size-fits-all curriculum; and absence of a whole-of-school approach underpinned by resources and infrastructure. The authors synthesised 16 levers from a systematic review of 45 evidence-based programs and culturally inclusive studies based in Australia. The report makes 22 recommendations.
This report from ANROWS explores the feasibility of implementing child-parent psychotherapy (CPP), an evidence-based dyadic intervention, in the Australian context for children and their mothers affected by IPV. The state of knowledge review completed for this report identified very few evidence-based preventive treatments for mothers and children affected by IPV, especially in Australia. An evaluation of a pilot of CPP in Australia found that the program could be implemented under certain conditions and was highly acceptable to participants despite a range of identified implementation barriers. While there was evidence of some early outcomes, larger sample sizes and fully trained therapists are needed to assess effectiveness.
The Centre for Family Research and Evaluation at Drummond Street, Good Shepherd and GenWest have released this interactive report detailing three organisational case studies that explore family violence service data before and during COVID-19 in 2020-21 to increase understand of how family violence presentations changed in the context of the pandemic. The report presents findings relating to demographics, comparisons to pre-COVID and organisational response. A key finding was that Good Shepherd experienced a 51 per cent increase in the number of clients receiving family violence case management.
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) has released this research report as part of the What works: Overviews of reviews series. This study examined the evidence of effectiveness reported by reviews of interventions for perpetrators of domestic and family violence (DFV) and intimate partner violence (IPV). A key finding was that of 29 reviews that assessed the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions for a reduction in DFV/IPV, only one concluded that the intervention works. The review concludes that the quality of evidence in this space is poor and there are significant gaps.
