National Child Protection Week is on September 1-7 and is an opportunity to turn our focus to the needs and rights of all children. It invites us to consider how we promote a safe and supported life for every child now and into the future with this year’s theme “Every child in every community needs a fair go”.
This Grand Round, in the lead up to Child Protection Week 3-9th September, will focus on how as a health service we can identify children who are at risk of missing out on essential medical care. Each year at RCH thousands of health care encounters are missed when children and young people are not brought for scheduled appointments. For some children this can lead to harm, and rarely even have fatal consequences. As a health service we need to consider what the impacts are for these children and be aware of our role in reducing the risk of harm in this vulnerable group.
Racism as a fundamental cause of health and health inequalities is increasingly recognised as a major public health crisis, echoing what First Nations peoples have been saying since colonisation. There is growing empirical evidence of the multiple ways in which racism impacts health and wellbeing for children and young people.
Adolescent use of violence in the home (AVITH) refers to violence, or abusive or intimidating behaviours by a young person against their parent, carer, sibling or other family member within the home. The Victorian Family Violence Reform recognises violence used by young people as a distinct form of family violence, requiring unique responses to the inherent complexities of this form of family violence. I
Sibling sexual abuse is 3-5 times more common than father/step-father abuse. This study looked past the factors that might contribute to the occurrence of sibling sexual abuse with the aim of better understanding the experience of therapists working with families with such experience and collaboratively developing principles to guide practice in this complex area of child sexual abuse.
‘Family violence is rarely seen or understood through the eyes of children and young people. Way too often, we are the ones you leave behind.’
This Grand Round invites you to listen to young people with lived experience of family violence and see family violence through their eyes. We will be joined by Berry Street’s Y-Change Lived Experience Consultants to learn how practitioners can better support children and young people with experiences of family violence and understand what can make a difference to a child or young person in your care.
The NAIDOC Week Grand Round will highlight how Wadja Aboriginal Family Place has provided excellence and leadership in health services to Aboriginal Children and their families at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Wadja works collaboratively in partnership in the areas of child health assessments, advocacy, liaison, research, mental health, education, and family support to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people.
Ms Jacquie O’Brien, is the CEO of Tweddle Child and Family Health Services, a statewide early parenting intervention and prevention health service and public hospital. Jacquie will be speaking on trauma-informed care and developing integrated models of care with early parenting services. Ms O’Brien will describe, using case studies and experience, how working in an integrated way across health services can lead to better outcomes for all.
Interpersonal violence against people with disabilities is a major public health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences enhance the already increased risk for abuse among people with disabilities. This Grand Round provides both clinical strategies and a broader call to action for addressing family violence and coercive control against people with disabilities.
Currently in Australia, children as young as 10 years old can be arrested, held in police cells, taken before a magistrate and incarcerated in prison-like settings. Most children who are incarcerated are never convicted of a crime.
