Child Protection
We will never eradicate paedophilia or child sex abuse.
This admission is implicit in the naming of SA Police’s Operation Decimate, which is the Sexual Crime Investigation Branch’s child sex exploitation investigation.
I fervently hope they are using the term ‘decimate’ in its bastardised but generally accepted definition – to destroy a significant proportion.
Continue reading "We need a new approach to ‘decimate’ child sex abuse" »
Abused kids deserve better than spin.
As the Federal Convenor of Parliamentarians Against Child Abuse and Neglect, I applaud the Baillieu Coalition Government for making the welfare of all Victorian children a priority in 2011.
The announcement last week of an inquiry into the systemic problems in Victoria’s child protection system is overdue and welcome. Such an inquiry is much needed not only for all those who work in the child protection system but more importantly, for those who are living with abuse.
Continue reading "Throwing money at child abuse won’t make it go away" »
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Kristy says:
Our system needs a complete overhaul, too many children are being neglected and abused and seriously, it is DISGUSTING!! I was a victim of child abuse and DHS were involved and they did NOTHING! There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about what I… Read more »
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Coopers says:
Referring to the question, “...some 240,607 cases were not ‘substantiated’ and it begs the question, why?”, cases are frequently settled in corridor negotiations. Where it can’t be resolved, the matters are then booked for contests. Unlike civil litigation, the Family Division of the Children’s Court of Victoria is not… Read more »
”…it is highly likely that every Australian either was, is related to, works with or knows someone who experienced childhood in an institution or out of home care environment.’ – Forgotten Australians, p. xv”
At 8.30pm tonight SBS will screen a documentary called The Forgotten Australians, timed to air on the first anniversary of the national Apology last year by then prime minister, Kevin Rudd, to the people who have become known by this term.
Who are the Forgotten Australians – and why was the Prime Minister saying sorry?
Continue reading "One year on, remembering the Forgotten Australians" »
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chris smith says:
jenny bosanquet you demand an apologey from the goverment how about apologizeg to your husband who you abandond when he needed you the most if that what the clan is all about kickin your husband when he is down tryin to recover from surgery you truely are a heartless bitch… Read more »
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Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:
Acotel, this subject is to serious to try & politicise it. Abuse happened under both sides because nobody was watching. Christian charity isn’t cold unfortunately when churches hire secular workers (& yes, some supposed Christians) abuse happensInstead of looking at the past & using it to belt someone, fix the… Read more »
It would be handy, as a service for lazy journalists, if a special hotline called 1800-OFFENDED could be established whereby reporters looking for an easy headline can contact a centralised pool of permanently upset lobbyists.
One of the reasons Australia has weathered the global financial crisis is that there is a vibrant local growth industry where hundreds of people are waiting by the phone to be professionally outraged about pretty much anything.
An old media favourite is Harold Scruby who heads up the Pedestrian Council. Harold is the world’s nicest bloke but his irrational hatred of the motor car is such that he may well have been molested by an early-model Torana when he was a boy.
Continue reading "Dial 1800 OFFENDED: Your handy one-stop outrage shop" »
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Reg says:
I am outraged that I don’t understand what any of that means. Who should I blame? Olga down there seems to see things that I don’t as well. Thank goodness we have details like 10/10/10 to bring us back to normality. Read more »
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Chris says:
You write this article. Then your next article is about the outrage and offence from the fact that the eight men involved in the Brimble death dared to have a dinner eight years after? Pot, kettle? Read more »
This week is National Child Protection Week 2010 and this year NAPCAN is highlighting the stark fact that when we know 33,000 children are abused each year, child protection is everyone’s business.
And they are just the ones we know about. These statistics have no place in 21st century Australia.
What would happen if, in a single year, 33,000 Australian children became ill in an epidemic, with some children dying and many children being damaged for life? There would be a national outcry to intervene and stop it. Why isn’t there a similar outcry for children who have been abused or neglected? The abuse and neglect of children continues year after year, yet it seems no one hears these children.
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Chris says:
Karl, “`Reported’ cases have a huge question mark over them as all agencies involved with children are now mandatorily required to report their `suspicions’ of child abuse, which may in many cases have been made for mistaken, mischievous, and malicious reasons.” Are you referring to the false accusations that are… Read more »
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Andrew says:
Sounds like Eric has a few issues. Neglect is one issue and violence and abuse is another. Men are statistically more likely to be perpetrators of violence and abuse that is a fact. That doesn’t mean women don’t commit acts of violence and abuse it means men are the majority… Read more »
Six-year-old Naomi wants to kill herself after being repeatedly sexually abused since the age of two.
Her mother Debbie says the bright and bubbly toddler has become a violent and aggressive girl who wants to throw herself in front of a car to end her suffering.
Last week, I interviewed Debbie on Radio 2UE. It was harrowing. Heartbreaking. But instead of expressing sympathy, talkback callers were angry.
Continue reading "Child protection trumps rights of divorced parents" »
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Suzanne says:
The FLC ignores all the signes and puts children at risk constantly. My Child went to school and told a teacher that she hated going to her fathers because he offered his friend money to kill me and he drilled a hole in the bathroom wall to look at her… Read more »
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Donna says:
Who are these “wimmin”? and I think you’ll find a lot of it come from bad parenting in general, not just “wimmin”... Read more »
The proposal this year to remove the artistic defence from the NSW proposed legislation on child abuse, which includes child pornography and exploitation, is not particularly about censoring artists.
In fact, the Australia Council for the Arts believes that the proposal, which will harmonise NSW laws with the Commonwealth laws on the definitions of child pornography, has the potential to be advantageous to genuine artistic expression.
Mention art and pornography together, and people immediately position themselves at opposite ends of the room.
Continue reading "Why artists should not fear child protection reforms" »
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A-Cup says:
What’s even more preposterous is that our country’s censors - oh I’m sorry, ‘classifiers’ - are so paranoid over this issue that they have even refused classification to some adult films (and publications?) featuring small-breasted women, on the premise that they “look” like they’re underage. Read more »
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stephen says:
Your objection has nothing to do with Art. Read more »
The recent call by Dr John Irvine to consider charging parents for crimes committed by children under the age of 10 highlights a fundamental social challenge.
Juvenile crime and delinquency is a growing problem within our schools and the wider community – costing millions of dollars each year. Recent Bureau of Crime and Statistics research indicates a 44% rise in juvenile offences since 2001.
Dr Irvine thinks that the ability to charge parents for the crimes their offspring commit “would help” and therefore it’s certainly worthy of debate and discussion. It’s hard to dispute his assertion that the Labor Government is too soft when it comes to dealing with the guardians of troubled children under 10.
Continue reading "How can we legislate against loveless and lawless parents?" »
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Ana says:
I am a single mother. I work a middle management job and do not rely on government handouts. My daughter is, according to her teachers, one of the best behaved kids in her class and is very confident, loving and affectionate. The reason I’m a single mother? I refused to… Read more »
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Jason says:
“How can we legislate against loveless and lawless parents?” Simple, the cycle needs to stop. In my opinion the best way to achieve this is to stop wasting time on getting the parents to change, and attempt to install love and discipline in the child or children though the education… Read more »
SHY Keenan (corr) doesn’t like to call herself a victim nor does she like the term survivor. Both imply a resolution to an issue.
But from the age of four she was systematically raped, beaten, degraded, filmed then, at the age of 10, sold to a gang of dockworkers in the UK for four more years of abuse.
In 2000 more than 25 years after the abuse, she armed herself with a small camera lent by the BBC and filmed one of her attackers boasting about his actions. Two years later she watched in satisfaction from the back of Liverpool Crown Court as three of her attackers, including a stepfather, were handed jail terms.
Continue reading "Abused as a child, with an angry message to Australia" »
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tannie says:
I don’t believe anyone who can harm a child has any RIGHTS. they lose them when the harm the child. Jail may be harsh to some of them but they should never be aloud out of there either. They should stay in there, I think they get off easy what… Read more »
A few weeks ago I had one of my worst days as a new MP. A woman came to see me in my office in Caringbah in southern Sydney and told me the appalling story of how her child was being exposed to pornography by the child’s own father.
The child is less than five years old. I won’t go into the other details for risk of identifying the individuals involved, but rest assured it would make the most tolerant and liberal thinking of readers angry and sick.
What is worse is that as we looked to see what remedies were available to help this mum protect her child, we found there were none – and the police confirmed as much to her.
Continue reading "Protect kids from porn in the family home" »
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LC says:
First and foremost, kids live in an ADULTS world, not the other way around. Want to ban porn? Ok. But you also have to ban anything else unsuitable for children but available for adults too, like alchol, ciggies, cars, motorcycles, pest killers, weed killers, other posions, knifes, guns, any movie… Read more »
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bella says:
People really need to educate themselves about the reality of this. Scott is spot on here. Google porn adiction, google sibling incest. LEARN about the issues before you get all defensive to protect your right to look at porn. This is not an religious stance- I have seen first hand… Read more »
We all want our kids to be safe online. Parents can’t be expected to monitor every click and it’s understandable that we’re looking to government for help.
But Mr Rudd’s plan to assemble a government generated list of unacceptable sites then demand Internet Service Providers (ISPs) monitor each page we visit is a step in the wrong direction.
ISPs direct internet traffic much like a post office delivers mail. Requiring them to examine the contents of transmitted data is like requiring the post office to read our mail before it’s delivered.
Continue reading "Rudd’s internet nanny plan targets the wrong enemy" »
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LC says:
Let’s hope Tony Abbott has the same approach to the issue as you. Read more »
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Jon says:
Good Article. It’s too bad krudd and conway will likely dismiss this and continue claiming they know what the Australian people want. hopefully election comes before this is implemented. Might not be anything else to choose from but labor is sure gonna be last preference. Read more »
THERE are some stories that are so sad that they are almost impossible to read, some photographs that you cannot look at without choking up. The death of Dean Shillingsworth is such a story – the gorgeous two-year-old boy from one of the most impoverished suburbs in Sydney’s west, whose mother yesterday pleaded guilty to killing him and stuffing him into a suitcase which she threw into a duck pond.
The manner of Dean’s death goes beyond comprehension. You look at this kid in his Thomas the Tank Engine pyjamas and just shake your head in disbelief, and shed a tear that, maybe, he could have been one of the children who through the support of his extended family, or the attention of a dedicated public school teacher, could have found his way out of the dysfunctional mess he’d been born into.
That is obviously something that nobody will ever know.
Continue reading "Dean Shillingsworth and the people Australia forgot" »
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David C says:
I guess this is why this site is called “ThePunch” Read more »
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Dan says:
David C, considering I didn’t attack people for being ‘latte/chardonnay socialists’, I think you should look in the mirror when you say Bad day at work was it?’ Nonetheless, my original point stands. Regardless of where you live, you have no right to call anyone a latte/chardonnay socialist. How do… Read more »
I’m an orphan. My mum committed suicide when I was seven and my dad had a heart-attack when I was 16.
Thankfully, I wasn’t living with either of them at the time. I was removed from my mother’s care at age five and my relationship with my father was estranged since before I could remember.
The very first night I spent in a foster home I was bullied.
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fehowarth says:
We need to hear from more people who went through the system. No story is the same. We need to hear from those who succeeded as well failed. Without this history we cannot plot a better future where all are winners. Read more »
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Heléna says:
thank you Lanai for your advice - it’s much appreciated Read more »
The shocking case last week of a two-year-old Victorian girl being savagely beaten has once again raised the issue of child abuse into the headlines.
It has started an important debate about when to remove children from their parents and what constitutes a child at risk.
Despite some horrifying high profile cases in recent years, child abuse is a problem that many Australians still think is limited to a certain section of the community.
While this view might make it easier for us to sleep at night, it does nothing to protect the more than 30,000 Australian children who were abused or neglected last year.
Continue reading "Child abuse is still our national shame" »
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Anon says:
Jeremy: There are scientifically proven prevention programs that reduce child abuse. Many of the times they are not available or not implemented correctly. Rick: You’re an idiot. The welfare of the community (including children) is everyone’s responsibility and not just the parents. If the parents are not coping and all… Read more »
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Rick says:
The community is not responsible, the parents are! If you think society is the problem then it is time for society to take action and remove the rights of some people to have children (i.e. Sterilisation) . If you think it can’t be done then stop blaming the government for… Read more »
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From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012
marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
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No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
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