From journal articles to Quick Guides and webinars, you will find tools and information to support.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has published a report on youth justice, presenting youth justice data for the period 2015-16. The report is accompanied by eight fact sheets, profiling youth justice supervision in each state and territory. Interestingly, the rate of young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day was lowest in Victoria at 14 per 10,000. The report also highlights that around 5,500 young people were under supervision in 2015–16, down from almost 7,000 in 2011–12. Young Indigenous people were 17 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision on an average day.
The Mitchell Institute has brought together a group of education practitioners, government leaders and policy experts to consider the challenge of improving young people’s transitions into employment. Young Australians are studying for longer than ever before but are disengaged and struggling to secure long-term employment. The unemployment rate of young people (15-24 year olds) averaged 12.7 per cent in 2016. The authors argue that young people are entering a competitive, global job market that requires a different set of skills from the skills emphasised in Australia’s education system.
The Brotherhood of St Laurence has published an analysis of youth employment trends in Australia, which uncovers some concerning statistics. Youth underemployment is now the highest it has been since 1978 when the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) first started collecting the data, reaching 18 per cent in early 2017. The report shows that 650,000 young people in total were unemployed or underemployed in February 2017.
This Child Family Community Australia (CFCA) resource sheet provides a legislative definition of ‘a child in need of protection’, with the aim of illuminating the point at which statutory services intervene to protect the child. It brings together the legislative definitions of ‘a child in need of protection’ across Australia’s states and territories, and highlights commonalities and variations across jurisdictions. While definitions vary slightly, the components that indicate ‘a child in need of protection’ are generally consistent.
Child abuse and neglect can take many different forms. This resource sheet discusses the different forms that child abuse and neglect may take, including physical abuse, neglect, emotional maltreatment, exposure to family violence, and sexual abuse. There are significant gaps in Australian research into the prevalence of the different forms of child abuse and neglect, and to date; there has been no comprehensive, nationwide study into its prevalence. To try and fill this knowledge gap, the paper provides a review of ten Australian studies that have examined the prevalence of child maltreatment in its different forms.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process by which children and adults learn to understand and manage emotions, maintain relationships, and make responsible decisions. This series of four reports explores the benefits of SEL in the early years, and identifies the characteristics of SEL interventions that lead to positive outcomes in the school environment. It provides helpful strategies for school staff and teachers to foster a positive classroom environment and support social and emotional competence in their students.
This practitioner resource considers the nature and benefits of meaningful youth participation in child safety measures. It looks at tools and strategies that can help practitioners to talk to children about their own safety and some of the ways that institutions can respond. The resource highlights the need for organisation-wide commitment to children's participation for this to be successful.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has released a new research report that finds Australian oversight bodies have inconsistent scope and powers in protecting children from sexual abuse in institutions. Researchers examine several oversight bodies, including Ombudsman’s offices, children’s commissions and advocacy and guardianship agencies. The report highlights the localised factors and resource constraints that influence capacity to implement oversight powers and priority areas for oversight.
This report by The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education summarises findings of the 2017 nation-wide survey that explored community attitudes towards alcohol. For the first time, Australians were asked in 2017 if they thought there was a link between alcohol and family violence. Ninety-two percent of Australians believe that there is a link between the two, and 80% indicate that they think governments should be doing more to address the role that alcohol plays in family violence.