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
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- 1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Child protection Australia 2010–11 (Cat No. CWS 41; Child Welfare Series No. 52). Canberra: AIHW, 2012.
- 2. Green MJ, Hindmarsh G, Kariuki M, et al. Mental disorders in children known to child protection services during early childhood. Med J Aust 2020; 212: 22–28.
- 3. Carr VJ, Harris F, Raudino A, et al. New South Wales Child Development Study (NSW‐CDS): an Australian multiagency, multigenerational, longitudinal record linkage study. BMJ Open 2016; 6: e009023.
- 4. Coles J, Lee A, Taft A, et al. Childhood sexual abuse and its associations with adult physical and mental health: results from a national cohort of young Australian women. J Interpers Violence 2015; 30: 1929–1244.
- 5. Kisely S, Abajobir AA, Mills R, et al. Child maltreatment and mental health problems in adulthood: birth cohort study. Br J Psychiatry 2018; 213: 698–703.
- 6. Scott KM, Smith DR, Ellis PM. Prospectively ascertained child maltreatment and its association with DSM‐IV mental disorders in young adults. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2010; 67: 712–719.
- 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.
- 9. Abajobir AA, Kisely S, Williams G, et al. The association between substantiated childhood maltreatment, asthma and lung function: a prospective investigation. J Psychosom Res 2017; 101: 58–65.
- 10. Abajobir AA, Kisely S, Williams G, et al. Height deficit in early adulthood following substantiated childhood maltreatment: a birth cohort study. Child Abuse Negl 2017; 64: 71–78.
- 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.
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.