https://childrenaustralia.org.au Children Australia: Advancing Child, Youth & Family Services is an open-access journal publishing evidence, research and commentary by practitioners, researchers and policymakers and the children, young people and families they support. en-gb Mon, 24 Aug 26 15:00:24 +0000 Papir Journal Platform editor@childrenaustralia.org.au (Melissa Storey) webmaster@commonline.com.au (Webmaster) https://childrenaustralia.org.au/images/children_australia_og_branding.jpg https://childrenaustralia.org.au https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3107 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3107 Young people transitioning from out-of-home care (known as care leavers) are, globally, a vulnerable group, and many experience housing instability and homelessness. In 2021, the State of Victoria extended out-of-home-care supports from 18 to 21 years, including introduction of a housing allowance for all care leavers. Yet, many of this cohort - particularly those leaving residential group home care - still struggle to access safe and affordable housing. In response, the Bridge It charity established the co-designed Cocoon model in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda via philanthropic funding to provide a home and community to young women aged 16-21 years leaving residential care, as well as other young women and gender-diverse people who have experienced homelessness. This paper draws on three external and internal evaluation studies that used mixed methods to examine the impact of the Cocoon program, including interviews with current and former residents, interviews with current Cocoon workers and client outcome data. The findings indicate the effectiveness of the Cocoon model in enabling positive outcomes for the young women in key areas such as housing, education and employment, mental health, life skills, social and community relationships and family reunification. Mon, 17 Aug 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3084 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3084 Financial hardship is a well-established determinant of mental health. From 2021 to 2025, Australian families faced sustained increases in cost of living, yet little evidence exists on how these pressures are perceived to affect families' mental health. This study draws on data from the November-December 2024 wave of the nationally representative Royal Children's Hospital National Child Health Poll, which has tracked the financial and mental health experiences of Australian families with children aged 0-17 years since 2020. Using weighted proportions, we described: (1) caregivers' perceived impact of cost of living on their own and their children's mental health with responses on a five-point scale ('large positive' to 'large negative') and (2) variation in these perceived impacts by demographics (gender, child age, sole caregiver status, caregiver education, home language, regionality, neighbourhood socioeconomic status), financial hardship (material deprivation and low-income) and caregiver and child mental health. Responses were received from 1,991 caregivers for themselves and 3,274 children. Most caregivers reported that cost-of-living pressures negatively affected their own mental health, with 41% reporting a small negative impact and 24% a large negative impact. More women reported negative impacts than men. For children, 65% of caregivers reported no impact, although negative effects were more common among adolescents than younger children. Notably, 11% of caregivers and 14% of children were reported to experience positive mental health impacts of cost of living. A bimodal pattern was evident: both large negative and positive impacts were more common for caregivers experiencing low income, material deprivation, lower education, sole caregiving or poor mental health. Conversely, caregivers in two-caregiver households, with higher education or income, or without deprivation, more commonly reported small negative effects. This is the first national survey to measure perceived cost-of-living impacts on caregiver and child mental health. The study demonstrated clear social patterning, and provides timely, policy-relevant evidence for early childhood, family and mental health systems. The findings underscore the need for universal responses that are proportionate to need, alongside integrated approaches that address the complex adversities and challenges families face, as financial pressures persist. Sat, 18 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3079 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3079 Child and Family Hubs are a promising model of integrated service delivery, offering families access to education (including Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)), health and social services, and parenting guidance. They provide a place where families build relationships and connect with professionals who know them and their story, and can support them to get what they need, when they need it. Evidence shows hubs improve: school readiness and academic outcomes; service access; early identification of developmental needs; child health outcomes; and family engagement and wellbeing. This article provides an overview of the current hubs landscape in Australia, the evidence for integrated service delivery and current policy opportunities for expansion and systematisation. While hub models exist across Australia, scaling them beyond special projects into government systems remains a challenge. Systemic implementation requires reform at all levels, including governance, regulation, funding, planning and practice. This process takes resources, skills, political will and intentionality, but ultimately delivers better outcomes for children and for taxpayers through avoiding long-term costs and better use of existing investments in the service system. Current momentum to embed hubs within early childhood systems is building and this article outlines an ambitious 5-year agenda on how it could be taken forward. It includes case studies such as the Our Place model in Victoria and identifies policy opportunities for expansion. Key recommendations include establishing a national taskforce, aligning funding and governance across jurisdictions, supporting ACCO-led models, and introducing long-term funding and shared data frameworks to sustain integrated, place-based care. Together these developments could see a strong foundation for systemisation of hubs within our early childhood systems to improve outcomes for children experiencing disadvantage. Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3070 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3070 Reunification therapy within the Australian Family Law system Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3102 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3102 The social and political commitment to preventing child sexual abuse is reflected in an improvement in societal responses over the past 50 years, credited to public policy, social awareness and protective action by parents and caregivers within and beyond the home. However, despite evidence of progress, the prevalence of child sexual abuse remains relatively stable, indicating there is a persistent inability to prevent individuals from sexually abusing children. The responsibility for preventing child sexual abuse is predominantly located within policing, criminal justice and child protection systems and, to a far lesser extent, medical and education systems. To supplement these efforts, there has been an impetus toward expanding the awareness and knowledge of the population to encourage more active participation in prevention. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and public health prevention strategies have contributed to an improved community awareness and knowledge. Nonetheless, a persistent 'ick factor' surrounds the issue of childhood sexual abuse as an ongoing social taboo. If the population were willing to acknowledge or discuss child sexual abuse, they would be more likely to take personal responsibility for it and actively respond. This is consequential because individuals who sexually abuse children do so due to social ignorance, silence and disbelief. Therefore, those who are resistant to acknowledging or discussing child sexual abuse are unwittingly complicit in it. This article shares the findings of a qualitative, feminist poststructural inquiry that centred the lived experience of fourteen adults who had experienced child sexual abuse in different community and familial contexts in Australia, attending to the intersecting social, cultural and structural conditions that shaped those experiences. Of particular interest were the actions and responses of members of the participants' support network when they were children. Importantly, this research found that there were opportunities for family, community members and professionals to identify when an individual was sexually abusing them, to intervene, stop the harm and protect the child, yet they did not do so. A qualitative, poststructural feminist research methodology enabled the critical analysis of the participants' accounts. This revealed how abuse is sustained through gendered discourses, institutional silences and power relations. The subtle operation of power through language, norms and systems was revealed to open space for ethical, empowering responses that support agency, voice and transformation. The focus on allyship reflected the author's practice experience and the difficulties of safeguarding children from child sexual abuse in the constraints of neoliberal procedures and processes in statutory child protection systems. To supplement the progress that has been made due to developments in policy and practice, this study proposes that individuals in the community need to take more responsibility for the prevention of, and responses to, child sexual abuse, which is conceptualised through the idea of being an ally. Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3116 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3116 OPEN Symposium 2025: What makes for effective collaborative practice? Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3099 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3099 Place-based partnerships in the child and family services sector: A case of emergence Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3121 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3121 Reimagining residential care: Using developmental evaluation to refine Gamadji Balit, an Aboriginal model of residential care Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3097 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3097 Adolescent Building Connections (ABC): Positive connections building thriving futures Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3119 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3119 Young Voices. Big Impact. Disrupting the trajectory of homelessness: The role of early intervention and prevention with children and families Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3117 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3117 The Worried About Sex and Pornography Project: The role of a national online early intervention service (What’s ok? Australia) in responding to the growing prevalence of harmful sexual behaviour by young people Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3118 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3118 'I Am Me': Early childhood violence prevention through body safety and gender equality education Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3094 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3094 Partnership approaches that put children and families at the centre: Addressing adultism and empowering young parents Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3098 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3098 Steps to Confident Parenting: An integrated service-research model Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3120 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3120 Reins for change: A collaborative model integrating equine-assisted learning, mentoring, cultural support and employment pathways to empower justice-involved young people to re-imagine their lives Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3104 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3104 Responding to trauma and disability in practice: Seeing the whole child – and their family Thu, 02 Jul 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3075 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3075 People who grew up alongside a sibling with disability are a significant yet under-researched population in Australia. These siblings often minimise or suppress their own needs to maintain family stability, a dynamic that may carry enduring consequences for attachment and mental health. This study explored the lived experiences of eight Australian typically developing (TD) adults who grew up alongside a sibling with neurodevelopmental disability (ND), using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) within a critical realist (CR) framework. That is, we explored how people make sense of their lived experiences, while also recognising that these experiences are shaped by deeper social and structural forces. This paper uncovered themes relating to Family Dynamics and Relational Impact and adoption of the needless child role by TD siblings. We discuss mechanisms related to external support that appear to moderate this effect. This paper explains this dynamic through the lens of attachment theory. We argue that the current findings support a family-systems approach to disability services, in which siblings are recognised as stakeholders and in need of targeted support. Tue, 30 Jun 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3078 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3078 Hunger and food insecurity in childhood have significant lasting impacts on physical and mental health, as well as cognitive and emotional development. Closely related to multidimensional poverty, food insecurity also prevents children from making the most of opportunities such as access to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and undermines their relationships both with peers and within families. Despite being a wealthy and net-food-exporting country, an estimated 42% of Australian households with children experience food insecurity, facing reduced quality, quantity and variety of food, running out of food or being forced to skip meals. The current cost-of-living crisis is further exacerbating food insecurity among Australia's families. ECEC settings offer a powerful intervention point: by school entry, 90% of Australian children will attend an ECEC service of some kind, presenting a critical opportunity to support children during a time of rapid brain development. However, a fragmented system means access to adequate nutrition is dependent upon postcode, with many services offering limited food or none at all. In addition, the national quality and regulatory framework largely frames food in terms of health and safety rather than a core component of quality. This policy framing exacerbates inequities by missing critical opportunities to require and monitor the quality, adequacy and management of food provision. In the absence of system-level supports, critical opportunities to support children's development, wellbeing and relationships through food continue to be missed. More broadly, there has been longstanding inaction on hunger and food insecurity by Australian governments - particularly as they impact young children. Australia has no existing national food security strategy, no overarching suite of law and policy to regulate the risks associated with food insecurity, no comprehensive data collection process and no clear responsibility or accountability at any level of government to facilitate equitable access to adequate food. There is also an unsustainable over-reliance on food relief services, which may alleviate immediate hunger but are unable to resolve food insecurity in the long term. How then, can research evidence, lived experience and cross-sector expertise be brought together to inform national policy that ensures every Australian child can access the food they need to thrive? Arising from the National Early Years Policy Summit held in Brisbane, Australia in August 2025, this policy commentary draws on current research, policy settings and practice insights on food provision and nutrition and food insecurity in the early years. It identifies key system gaps and outlines policy reforms, including the opportunities presented by the Albanese Government's commitments to a National Food Security Strategy and a universal quality early learning system. Mon, 29 Jun 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3085 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3085 Implementing Albo’s vision: Universal Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia Sat, 09 May 26 00:00:00 +0000 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3123 https://childrenaustralia.org.au/journal/article/3123 Correction to: Exploration phase: Improving transition planning in residential out-of-home care Sat, 09 May 26 00:00:00 +0000