A retrospective study of 427 university students in Queensland, Australia, revealed that the majority of perpetrators of child sexual abuse were known to their victim. The rate of incestuous abuse before the age of 17 years was twice as high for females as for males. It was also much more likely that the respondent reported being abused by a male than a female, with stepfathers being one of the most frequently reported offenders. In contrast, strangers were found to perpetrate a minority of abuse. Consequently, recommendations are made for education programs in an effort to prevent children being abused by people whom they know and trust.

This address was given at a forum in November J999 for practitioners in the juvenile justice, alcohol and drug, mental health and child protection services in Victoria as part of the Department of Human Services’ Working Together Strategy’ (WTS). The WTS is a quality improvement initiative of the DHS in partnership with adolescent mental health and drug treatment service providers.

WTS provides an organisational framework for the Community Care Division, the Aged, Community and Mental Health Division and the Public Health Division (specifically in reference to the mental health, child protection and care, juvenile justice and drug treatment services programs) to achieve better outcomes for shared clients. WTS is a response to perceived deficits in cross-program collaboration and communication in cases involving high need adolescent clients.

While there is still some debate about whether or not children play less today than they did in the past, few would argue that they play differently. There is a good deal of concern that children are less involved in physically active outdoor play today because their traditional playgrounds – the backyards, streets and vacant spaces – are now less accessible. Why this is the case, and why it should be something which concerns us, are questions which are addressed in this paper. The discussion concludes by examining ways in which outdoor play might be made more accessible to children.

Self-care in primary school age children (the ‘latchkeyphenomenon’) is often regarded as problematic, threatening children’s psychological and physical well-being, although suggestions that it is beneficial are also sometimes made. It is likely that more Australian children are being expected to look after themselves with reducing formal out-of-school hours care facilities. This paper reviews the available evidence on the effects of self-care. It concludes that it is not possible to state categorically that self-care has either negative or positive effects on children’s psychological well-being, as a range of factors influences outcome, for example, the children’s age, family relationships and whether sibling care is involved. Although under-researched, the physical safety of children without adult supervision remains a concern. It is concluded that, while many children will emerge well from the self-care experience, others will not, and that it is therefore important that affordable out-of-school hours care facilities continue to be made available to families.

This paper describes the process and outcome of a self-help group involving six parents, and then proceeds to analyse the self-help group as a polity.

This analysis of the self-help group incorporates the notion of the parents as citizens who act and make decisions as a group or social polity. Concepts of generalised exchange and justice which have integral roles in social action within a polity are applied within the analysis.

These concepts are used to explain the personal growth of parents as citizens demonstrated through their participation in the self-help group as a social polity and in their social functioning within the community.

The paper argues that by promoting the clients’ citizenship development, the process facilitates their participation within the community and contributes to improved social functioning and self-determination.

Family Group Conferencing (FGC) in child protection is a method of involving families in planning. This paper reports on a study undertaken in the Victorian child protection system, which examined (1) the extent to which the Victorian FGC program actually involves families in the planning process, (2) the extent to which FGC develops case plans which are appropriate, and (3) the extent to which FGC develops case plans which are sustained over time. Researchers observed 28 conferences and phone interviews were conducted with more than 100 participants including family members, staff members and representatives of non-government agencies providing placement and support services. The results suggest that FGC is more successful in involving family members in case planning than more traditional planning processes. Family members believe that FGC leads to more appropriate case plans which are more likely to be sustained. Child protection workers on the other hand believe that more appropriate case plans are developed in traditional planning meetings, rather than FGCs, and that case plans developed in traditional meetings are more likely to be sustained over time. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed, in particular that FGCs may be used for more difficult cases.

The media play important roles in fighting child abuse at all levels. Reports of individual cases may be criticised as seeking to sensationalise, but in some circumstances the true horror of child abuse is missed or too terrible to report. A recent case in Victoria’s Supreme Court received prominent media coverage and led to demands that more be done to protect children in court proceedings.