Matthew Wilson1, Nicole Milburn2, Fleur Ward3
12020 Churchill Fellow, Winston Churchill Trust (Australia), 2Clinical Psychologist in private practice, 3LIV Accredited Children’s Law Specialist
Abstract:
Child protection jurisdictions throughout Australia (and internationally) are perpetually described as being in crisis, with yearly increases in reports, substantiation of harm, and entry into care. First Nations children are significantly over-represented in every measure.
Infants (0-3) are significantly over-represented in all aspects of child protection and care.
When infants enter out-of-home care, they stay for longer and spend more of their childhood in out-of-home care than children who enter out-of-home care at an older age.
Infants’ entry into out of home care can compound the harms associated with the adverse events responsible for that entry. National and International literature indicates that infants in out-of-home care are more likely to experience developmental delays, adverse physical health, and attachment problems, and are more likely to experience adverse longer-term outcomes than other children.
Australia’s adversarial court system can unwittingly compound the problem by pitting infants needs against parents’ rights.
Solution-focused Specialist Infant Courts, through embedding infant mental health and early childhood developmental expertise into care and protection court processes, together with expert case coordination, achieve significantly better outcomes for infants and their families than traditional adversarial justice approaches. Infants are reunified or stabilized earlier and are less likely to suffer further abuse and neglect. The team approach is more likely to preserve family relationships.
This presentation will explore the structure and operations of Specialist Infant Courts and generate discussion about ways to restructure systems to change changing developmental trajectories for our most vulnerable children and their families.