Prospective data confirm the lasting effects of maltreatment on children

Kisely, Steve; Najman, Jake

doi:10.5694/mja2.50445

Topics

Child protection services in Australia require fundamental workforce and organisational reform

The numbers of recorded cases of child maltreatment in Australia have risen sharply in recent years, accompanied by a substantial increase in the number of children placed in out‐of‐home care.1 The article by Green and colleagues2 in this issue of the MJA reports a linkage study of prospectively recorded contacts of children with child protection services during early childhood and subsequent mental health service visits between 6 and 13 years of age, based on administrative data for a representative population sample of 74 500 New South Wales children commencing school in 2009.3

University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD

Correspondence: s.kisely@uq.edu.au

Competing interests:

Jake Najman has received grants from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council for a longstanding birth cohort study on which some of this editorial is based.

1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Child protection Australia 2010–11 (Cat No. CWS 41; Child Welfare Series No. 52). Canberra: AIHW, 2012.
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7. Abajobir AA, Kisely S, Williams G, et al. Risky sexual behaviors and pregnancy outcomes in young adulthood following substantiated childhood maltreatment: findings from a prospective birth cohort study. J Sex Res 2018; 55: 106–119.
8. Mills R, Kisely S, Alati R, et al. Child maltreatment and cannabis use in young adulthood: a birth cohort study. Addiction 2017; 112: 494–501.
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11. Lonne B, Harries M, Lantz S. Workforce development: a pathway to reforming child protection systems in Australia. Brit J Soc Work 2013; 43: 1630–1648.

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