Improving the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children
A consolidation of systemic recommendations and evidence
June 2024
This research report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Australian Human Rights Commission aims to provide a national focus for reforms to the child protection and youth justice systems by examining the nature of recommendations from 61 reports and inquiries into these systems between the years of 2010 and 2022.
“Just over 19% of the 3,005 inquiry recommendations –spread across 49 reports (80% of the total number analysed) – were focused on prevention and/or early intervention strategies across youth justice and child protection systems. These recommendations are potentially of most interest for government focus due to the extensive evidence base supporting the effectiveness of prevention and early intervention supports (Gordon et al., 2021; Higgins & Dean, 2020; Higgins, Lonne et al., 2019)”.
