Child Abuse And Neglect

159 Pages·2016·1.97 MB·English

by  Ivan Ingram

Child Abuse And Neglect:
A Socio-legal Study of Mandatory
Reporting in Australia
Report for the Tasmania Department of Health
and Human Services
Associate Professor Ben Mathews
Australian Centre for Health Law Research (Co-Director, Children’s Health Program)
Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology
Associate Professor Leah Bromfield
Deputy Director, Australian Centre for Child Protection
Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia
Associate Professor Kerryann Walsh
Children and Youth Research Centre (Co-Director, Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Program)
Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology
Professor Graham Vimpani
School of Medicine and Public Health
University of Newcastle
APRIL 2015
Australian Centre for Australian Centre for Children and Youth School of Medicine
Health Law Research Child Protection Research Centre and Public Health
Acknowledgments
The authors express their sincere appreciation to the Commonwealth Department of Social Services for
sponsoring this national research project, and to the Victorian Department of Human Services which had
administrative carriage of the project. In particular, we thank Beth Allen (Assistant Director, Child
Protection, Statutory and Forensic Services), and Graham Brewster (Statutory and Forensic Services - Child
Protection), both from the Victorian Department of Human Services. Their ongoing project monitoring for
quality assurance through correspondence, teleconferences and in personal meetings has been invaluable.
The authors also express deep gratitude to child welfare agency staff from every State and Territory for
extracting and providing the data used in Stage 2 of this project. The authors also thank agency staff from
State and Territory child welfare departments for their time and expertise in providing feedback in a three
stage process on drafts of sections of this report. Without this support and helpful commentary from
government agency partners nationwide, this research project would not have been possible.
The authors thank support staff for their administrative assistance on this research project. In particular,
we express our gratitude to Dr Sandra Coe (Senior Research Assistant) for extensive assistance. We also
thank Stephanie Jowett, Anne Overell and Ivan Ingram for their assistance in the closing stages of the
project. The authors thank their University research centres for intellectual and administrative support,
and two international expert academic reviewers for their technical evaluation of the project methodology.
Disclaimer
The views and findings expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
those of the Commonwealth Government or of State and Territory child welfare departments.
The law as stated is current to 31 December 2012.
Important note: In 2014, the Child Protection Reform Amendment Act 2014 (Qld) was passed, which will
make substantial changes to Queensland’s mandatory reporting legislation. These changes will shift
Queensland’s position towards the current position in Victoria. The changes will broaden some mandatory
reporting duties, but will narrow others. The changes also will introduce a more formal statutory footing for
differential response pathways. These pending changes in Queensland are the most significant legislative
amendments made in any jurisdiction to mandatory reporting legislation in the period after the 2003-12
time period which defined the scope of this research project.
Suggested citation: Mathews, B., Bromfield, L., Walsh, K., & Vimpani, G. (2015). Child Abuse and Neglect: A
Socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia - Report for the Tasmanian Government. Brisbane:
Queensland University of Technology.
Copyright © State of Victoria, Australia, 2015. Reproduced with permission of the Secretary to the
Department of Human Services. Unauthorised reproduction and other uses comprised in the copyright are
prohibited without permission.
ISBN 978-0-9941872-5-3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: TASMANIA ......................................................................................................... 4
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
Tasmania’s mandatory reporting law ............................................................................................................... 4
Major findings from analysis of data on notifications and outcomes 2004-12 ................................................ 5
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................... 11
STAGE 1: LEGAL ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................... 13
1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 13
1.2. Major legislative differences and common approaches across Australia ................................... 14
1.3. Mandatory reporting legislation as one element of a systematic approach to child protection
and welfare: A note on differential response ................................................................................................. 17
1.4. Comparative tables ...................................................................................................................... 19
1.5. Legislative developments for each State and Territory over time: 2003-2012 ........................... 33
STAGE 2: DATA AND ANALYSES TASMANIA ........................................................................................... 90
Introduction, definitions, and notes ................................................................................................................ 90
Legislative changes of note in Tasmania, 2003-2012 ...................................................................................... 91
Definitions and notes: Tasmania ..................................................................................................................... 91
Key data findings and interpretations: Tasmania ............................................................................................ 95
STAGE 3: TWO LITERATURE REVIEWS .................................................................................................. 106
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................ 106
3.1 Literature review 1: Factors influencing mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect ...... 107
3.2 Literature review 2: Theoretical critiques of mandatory reporting laws .................................. 126
APPENDIX 1: RESEARCH APPROACH .................................................................................................... 143
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................ 143
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Stage 1: Legal doctrinal and historical analysis of legislative mandatory reporting duties in each Australian
State and Territory ........................................................................................................................................ 144
Stage 2: Numbers and outcomes of notifications of each type of child abuse and neglect: Descriptive
analysis and data mining ............................................................................................................................... 144
Stage 3: Literature reviews ............................................................................................................................ 149
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 150
Appendix 1 Table 1 and Figure 1 ................................................................................................................... 152

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Executive Summary
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: TASMANIA
Introduction Tasmania’s mandatory
reporting law
This Executive Summary presents key findings from
this research project entitled Child Abuse and Tasmania has a broad mandatory reporting law,
Neglect: A Socio-legal Study of Mandatory compared with other States and Territories (Fig 1).
Reporting in Australia. A comprehensive treatment
A wide range of occupational groups are
of our analysis is presented in the full Report.
designated as ‘mandated reporters’, including
A key component of this research project was to teachers, police, doctors and nurses. Reports
access official government data to analyse the (notifications) must be made of a number of
reporting of different types of child abuse and situations, most relevantly where a reporter
neglect, by different reporter groups (both reasonably believes or suspects, or knows, a child
mandated reporters such as police, and non- has been or is being abused or neglected (to the
mandated reporters), over the nine year period extent of suffering or being likely to suffer harm
2004-12 in Tasmania. detrimental to wellbeing, or is an ‘affected child’
under the Family Violence Act 2004 (exposure to
This summary captures some of the most
family violence where the child’s safety,
important trends identified by our analysis, which
psychological wellbeing or interests are affected or
can inform future advances to policy and practice.
likely to be affected). The duty to report family
violence commenced on 30 March 2005.
Fig 1: Mandatory reporting law spectrum*

* Reflects general position at 31 December 2012: full reports provide complete details. Victoria limits the reporting duty to
situations where the child’s parents have not protected the child from harm. Queensland has uncommenced amendments which
will place it close to Victoria’s position. Emotional abuse is sometimes named psychological abuse. NSW, Tas also require reports of
prenatal risk of harm in some circumstances. In NT, EDV refers to exposure to physical violence, and is more limited than in NSW,
Tas.
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Major findings from analysis of data on notifications and outcomes
2004-12

Some major trends emerge from our analysis of the data on notifications of child abuse and neglect in
Tasmania.
Fig 2: Number of notifications by all mandated reporter groups combined,
compared with other reporter groups combined, by outcome, 2004-2012
120,000
98,987
100,000
33,075 Other reporter groups combined
80,000
MMR groups combined
65,912
60,000
40,000
23,078
20,000
7,059
11,273
16,019
3,028
8,245
0
Total reports Investigated Substantiated

1. Non-mandated reporters make a significant proportion of all notifications.
There were 98,987 notifications of suspected child abuse and neglect made by all persons (Fig 2). Non-
mandated reporters made 33,075 notifications (33% of the total). This suggests that while mandated
reporters make the majority of all notifications, the practices of non-mandated reporters also merit
attention to enhance reporting.
2. Mandated reporters make a substantial proportion of all notifications.
Mandated reporter groups made 65,912 notifications (67% of the total: Fig 2). Due to the breadth of
Tasmania’s reporting law, these notifications were nearly all mandated by law; that is, notifications by
mandated reporter groups, of abuse and neglect required to be reported. Only those made regarding
family violence before the duty to report it commenced were not technically ‘mandated reports’.
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3. A substantial proportion of all notifications are not investigated.
In Tasmania, 23,078 notifications were investigated and 75,909 were not investigated (Fig 2). This rate is
likely influenced by many factors including Tasmania’s caller-defined protocol. It is similar to the rate in
other jurisdictions with this protocol.
4. Mandated reporters’ notifications identify a large majority of substantiated
cases.
There were 11,273 substantiations out of 23,078 investigations (Fig 2). Of all substantiations, 8245 (73%)
resulted from mandated notifications.
5. The number and proportion of notifications differs by type of child
abuse/neglect, and by reporter group. Emotional abuse is most frequently
reported, even after legislative changes in 2009.
Overall, notifications of emotional abuse surged from 2004-07, declined for a brief period, and then
increased again from 2010 (Fig 3).
Fig 3: Number of notifications of emotional abuse, by year, by reporter
group, 2004-2012
Other reporter groups
6000
combined 5,627 5,593
MMR groups combined
5,088
5000 School personnel
4,679
4,528
Police
4,145 4,129
4000 3,771
3000
2,020
2000
1000
n.a.
0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

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From 2004-07, notifications of emotional abuse almost tripled (2020 to 5593). This trend is similar for both
non-mandated and mandated reporters, but is even more pronounced for mandated reporters, with
notifications by police largely responsible.
Notifications of emotional abuse by non-mandated reporters increased from 2004-07 (770 to 1237).
However, they then declined, suggesting that while the 2008 change in recording practice was likely
influential, a proportion of these cases were referred to new community-based intake services, or were
perhaps not referred at all..
Notifications of emotional abuse by mandated reporters surged in this period 2004-07, increasing by more
than 3 times (1250 to 4356). Police notifications were a particularly prominent source of this increase. It is
plausible that many of these situations arose in the context of domestic violence, especially given that the
increase coincides with the introduction of the new duty to report family violence from 30 March 2005.
A decline occurred after 2007, likely influenced by the change in recording practice in 2008 and the ability
from 2009 to make referrals to the new community-based intake services. It may also be partly explained
by an increase in reports coded as ‘not stated’ or ‘other’. However, a rise in 2011-12 indicates emotional
abuse remains frequently reported by mandated reporters despite these developments.
6. Notifications of neglect appear to have decreased markedly since 2007.
Overall, trends in notifications of neglect show very similar patterns to those for emotional abuse (Fig 4).
Fig 4: Number of notifications of neglect, by year, by reporter group, 2004-
2012
6000 5,689
Other reporter groups combined
5,012
MMR groups combined
5000
4,622 School personnel
Police
4000 3,807 3,775
3,175 3,201
2,970
3000
2,647
2000
1000
n.a.
0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

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