Pathways of Children Reported for Domestic and Family Violence to Australian Child Protection

Background and Purpose:

Child protection systems often contend with domestic and family violence (DFV) as a maltreatment concern, yet few large-scale studies have explored how child protection (CP) systems respond to DFV compared with other concerns. This analysis is intended to inform policy and practice so that efforts to address DFV do not involve subjecting children and families to inappropriate CP intervention.

The research questions included:

1) How have rates of DFV in CP reports changed over time? 

2) What other identified CP concerns tend to co-occur in families where DFV is identified?

3) How do children and families move through the CP system when DFV is identified in the initial report and how does this differ for families where DFV is not identified as a concern?

Methods:

The analysis used unit record data obtained from CP in three Australian states to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the CP response to reported child maltreatment concerns where DFV was identified as an issue. The study contained two analyses. The first,  (N=428,880), consisted of all reports to CP in NSW, Victoria, and WA that occurred between July 2010 and June 2014 and focused on:

1) The changes in rates of reports involving DFV.

2) Co-occurring CP concerns in reports where DFV was identified.

The second analysis focused on children and families’ typical course of involvement with CP. The approach involved randomly selecting a single report for each child. The resulting sample (N=336,237) consisted of all children across the three states, each having a single ‘index’ report, which is where the pathway for each child commenced.

At each major stage of the CP system (report, investigation, placement in OOHC), descriptive analyses were conducted comparing children with index reports that involved DFV versus those who did not. Cox regressions were used to isolate and describe the independent influence of DFV on the likelihood of moving down or repeating the CP continuum while accounting for other known influences.

Results:

The results show that the number of DFV reports increased faster than reports for other concerns, and children reported for DFV tended to be reported for emotional and physical abuse. While children reported for DFV were slightly less likely to transition from report to investigation, other factors were more predictive of further involvement with CP. Specifically, children with prior CP involvement, younger children and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were most likely to be investigated, placed in out-of-home care, and re-reported.

Conclusions and Implications:

Overall, system responses to maltreatment concerns appear to be similar across concern types despite substantial differences in their aetiologies and options for effective interventions. A case can be made for future practice development where maltreatment concerns are dealt with differently.

To facilitate future research and thus better inform policy and practice, a foundation of detailed information about DFV and the CP response should be created in order to generate actionable evidence. In particular, data communication and linkages between systems, including police, CP and DFV services, should be strongly considered.