The Australian Child Maltreatment Study: What do the findings tell us?

In this podcast episode, Professor Daryl Higgins shares his research insights on child-safe organisational strategies and public health approaches to protecting children. Daryl was involved in the 2023 Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS), which showed how disturbingly common it is for Australians to experience child maltreatment (physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect or exposure to family violence). The study found that 62% of children experience at least one form of maltreatment. 

Sharing these findings, Daryl speaks about the importance of understanding the enormity of this problem in Australia. He describes how the findings reinforce the need for universal prevention and early intervention policies and practices with children and young people. Daryl also discusses strategies that can be utilised by practitioners and workforces as part of early intervention with children where abuse has been identified or disclosed.  

In this episode you will learn about:    

• the importance of framing child maltreatment as something that can be prevented [3:12] 

• the shocking ACMS findings of multi-type maltreatment for children and young people in Australia [7:52] 

• the rise in harm of young people being sexually harmed within romantic relationships, particularly girls [15:32] 

• opportunities to contribute to a prevention agenda by building the confidence of children and young people to have conversations about sex, intimate relationships and body safety [24:03] 

• the need for trauma-informed workforces that can ask people about their experiences in ways that acknowledge the connection between child maltreatment and mental health conditions [30:47] 

Related resources 

Supporting children who disclose trauma (online course) https://learning.emergingminds.com.au/course/supporting-children-who-disclose-trauma  

Supporting children who have experienced trauma (online course) 

https://learning.emergingminds.com.au/course/supporting-children-who-have-experienced-trauma  

Working with children to prevent self-blame after disclosures of child sexual abuse (practice paper)  

Preventing self-blame after disclosures of child sexual abuse