Child protection performance indicators in Australia

Author

Helen Rogers and Susie Kelly

Presenter

Meredith Bryant

Organisation

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra

Child protection performance measures have been collected since 1995. Since this time the number of the indicators collected has increased and much work has been done to make these indicators more applicable to child protection matters. These data are collected by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and reported in the Report on Government Services. This paper will present trend data on indicators in all Australian states and territories for the years 1999-00 to 2003-04. Indicators include substantiation rate, resubstantiation rate, resubstantiation rate after decision not to substantiate, safety in out-of-home care, stability of placement, placement with extended family, children aged under 12 years in home-based care, and placement in accordance with the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle. The influence of policies and practices on the data will also be discussed.

Biography

Dr Helen Rogers is a project officer working on the child protection indicators at the Children, Youth and Families unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. She has a Masters in Educational Psychology, a PhD in Psychology and a background of research in child and youth psychology and education.