A public health approach to child protection: Poor child protection statistics are a barrier to a child-centred national framework. Karen Broadley 1, Chris Goddard 1, Joe Tucci 2 1.Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia, Monash Injury Research Institute, Monash University, Australia, 2.Australian Childhood Foundation, Background In Australia, many researchers and policy makers are concerned that statutory child protection systems have become overloaded, and are failing to protect children. The way forward, they suggest, is to adopt a public health approach to child protection (Broadley, Goddard & Tucci, in press). The Council of Australian Governments have developed the Protecting Australia’s Children is Everyone’s Business: National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009 – 2020 which aims to achieve ‘a substantial and sustained reduction in child abuse and neglect’ (AIHW, 2011, p.6), It argues that this requires a public health approach. A public health approach to child protection consists of three service platforms: 1.Universal services for infants, children and young people, including maternal and child health care services, kindergartens and schools. 2.Secondary services, which are designed to assist children and families where there is risk of concerns escalating, and who are likely to become involved with statutory child protection if concerns are not addressed. 3.Statutory child protection services, which are responsible for investigating concerns about a child’s safety or wellbeing. See for example Bromfield and Holzer (2008) Objectives The primary aim of the current study is to critically review the Australian Government’s espousal of a public health approach to child protection. This review is based on accepted best practice in public health models (Broadley et al, in press). Method An extensive literature review was undertaken to document the principles of a public health approach as a model for investigating and understanding child abuse and child protection. Results The four vital steps It is generally accepted that a public health approach comprises four steps: See for example Peden et al, (2008) No reliable data about ‘person’, ‘place’ and ‘time’… For more than ten years the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released an annual ‘Child Protection Australia’ report. This report is the main source of publicly available data relating to state and territory child protection activity. It does not provide reliable data about ‘person’, ‘place’ and ‘time’. There is minimal information about ‘person’. For example, there is no information about the number of notifications where there is parental drug and alcohol misuse, mental illness, family violence, or disability. There is no information about the number of children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse families notified to, or involved with child protection. There is no information about ‘place’. In Australia, child protection is the responsibility of eight State and Territory Governments. There are differences between jurisdictions in almost every aspect of child protection activity. For example, in 2011 – 2012 substantiations in relation to: sexual abuse ranged from 3% in the Northern Territory to 22% in Western Australia physical abuse ranged from 15% in the Australian Capital Territory to 29% in Victoria emotional abuse ranged from 28% in South Australia to 54% in Victoria (AIHW, 2013) The degree to which these differences can be explained based on differences between the jurisdictions is unknown. There is no information about ‘time’. This is because of the many legislative, and data recording changes that have occurred in most States and Territories over recent years. For example, Child Protection Australia reports reveal that in New South Wales there were: 16,765 substantiations in 2002 – ,094 substantiations in 2006 – ,596 substantiations in 2010 – 2011 The report itself acknowledges that in New South Wales the “data are not comparable to previous years” (AIHW, 2011, p 120). Conclusions The lack of reliable data about ‘person’, ‘place’ and ‘time’ makes it impossible to progress through the four vital steps. 1.It is impossible to know the magnitude of the child abuse and neglect problem. 2.There is limited ability to identify risk factors and risk populations. Australian research suggests that families who make up the primary client group of child protection services have high levels of parental substance abuse, parental mental health problems and domestic violence (Bromfield, Lamont, Parker & Horsfall, 2010). However, not enough detail is known about populations who are most at risk, or levels of co-morbidity (Broadley et al, in press). 3.There is limited ability to evaluate prevention and intervention activities. Although there is annual reporting on the implementation of the National Framework, there is no real ability to measure effectiveness. 4.Lack of data hinders development of an evidence base. Policy makers and those in the public health community have no reliable information to inform, evaluate and improve their work with vulnerable children and families. Recommendations If a public health model of child protection really is the answer to concerns that child protection systems are overburdened, steps must be taken to collect reliable surveillance data. It is crucial to have data about the size of the problem, about the characteristics of children and families who come to the attention of child protection, and data that are comparable over place and time. References Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2011). Child Protection Australia Cat. No. CWS 39. Canberra: AIHW. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2013a). Child Protection Australia Cat. No. CWS 43. Canberra: AIHW. Broadley, K., Goddard, C., & Tucci, J. (in press). They count for nothing: Poor child protection statistics are a barrier to a child-centred national framework. Melbourne: Australian Childhood Foundation, Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia, Monash University. Bromfield, L., & Holzer, P. (2008). A national approach for child protection: Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies. Bromfield, L., Lamont, A., Parker, R., & Horsfall, B. (2010). Issues for the safety and wellbeing of children in families with multiple and complex problems.(Clearinghouse publications). Family Matters(88), 76. Peden, M., et al. (2008). World Report on Child Injury Prevention. Geneva (Switzerland): World Health Organization. Acknowledgments Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia would like to thank the late Kirsty Hamilton for her financial and moral support. Statutory services Secondary services Universal services Assure widespread adoption of programs and policies that work. Develop and evaluate prevention and intervention activities. Identify risk and protective factors, and risk populations. Define the magnitude of the problem through systematic data collection