Farming 4 Care: Using nature to cultivate resilience in young people. This project aims to explore how passive and active engagement with nature might influence outcomes for young people who have experienced trauma, maltreatment and disrupted families. These people are extremely vulnerable, but often slip through the system. As they rarely engage in traditional therapy, non-traditional interventions may offer a viable alternative that should be explored and harnessed for this population. In addi ....Farming 4 Care: Using nature to cultivate resilience in young people. This project aims to explore how passive and active engagement with nature might influence outcomes for young people who have experienced trauma, maltreatment and disrupted families. These people are extremely vulnerable, but often slip through the system. As they rarely engage in traditional therapy, non-traditional interventions may offer a viable alternative that should be explored and harnessed for this population. In addition, traditional interventions are delivered at enormous cost and with minimal success for this group. Using an innovative multidisciplinary design, the project plans to test four hypotheses about nature engagement to contribute to the growing field of nature-based interventions. Our approach offers an alternative that draws on existing community resources and benefits local organisations, young people and farmers.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102003
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
More foster carers for children in need: understanding heterogeneity among Australian foster carers to increase recruitment and placement success. This project improves the ability of foster care organisations to attract the particular types of carers best suited to the children needing homes. More suitable carers will give foster children a healthier start to life, reduce the chances of developing antisocial behaviours and increase the chances of become contributing members of society.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101206
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Offending across the life-course: testing developmental and life-course theories of crime. There are many different explanations for why people start and stop offending. This project will draw on a range of Australian and international data to determine which explanations provide the most accurate description of why people engage in offending and the processes which lead offenders to stop offending.
Researching an all-of-family program in family violence & substance misuse. Family violence services and drug and alcohol services have been inappropriately siloed given co-occurrence of these problems is common. This project aims to evaluate an innovative program which integrates these services, focuses on fathering to ensure recognition of the needs of children (50% of family violence victims) and provides all-of-family support to ensure the safety and well-being of women and children. Expect ....Researching an all-of-family program in family violence & substance misuse. Family violence services and drug and alcohol services have been inappropriately siloed given co-occurrence of these problems is common. This project aims to evaluate an innovative program which integrates these services, focuses on fathering to ensure recognition of the needs of children (50% of family violence victims) and provides all-of-family support to ensure the safety and well-being of women and children. Expected outcomes include better evidence for countering family violence, and policy frameworks for integrated service provision. Changing the behaviour of men who use violence is a significant social challenge and the outcomes of this targeted approach should have ramifications nationally and internationally. Read moreRead less
Young people bereaved by domestic homicide. Far-reaching decisions are made about the future of a child bereaved by domestic homicide, including where they should live and whether they should have contact with the perpetrator. Practitioners and policymakers lack empirical and theoretical input to guide these decisions. This fellowship draws upon young people's, caregivers' and professionals' perspectives on children's living arrangements, relationships and identity development post-homicide. It ....Young people bereaved by domestic homicide. Far-reaching decisions are made about the future of a child bereaved by domestic homicide, including where they should live and whether they should have contact with the perpetrator. Practitioners and policymakers lack empirical and theoretical input to guide these decisions. This fellowship draws upon young people's, caregivers' and professionals' perspectives on children's living arrangements, relationships and identity development post-homicide. It expects to generate a theoretical model of children's outcomes as well as actionable advice for policymakers and practitioners. The main benefit will be enhanced capacity to support children, families and professionals in the context of domestic homicide in Australia and abroad. Read moreRead less
Protecting Sexually Abused Children in China. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a worldwide public health problem. The aim of this project is to better understand how the Chinese state and civil society act to prevent, respond and provide support to the victims of CSA. Findings aim to underpin the development of a more effective system. Organisations in China and Australia aim to cooperate in order to: identify policy, practices and procedures that currently protect and support victims of CSA; develop ....Protecting Sexually Abused Children in China. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a worldwide public health problem. The aim of this project is to better understand how the Chinese state and civil society act to prevent, respond and provide support to the victims of CSA. Findings aim to underpin the development of a more effective system. Organisations in China and Australia aim to cooperate in order to: identify policy, practices and procedures that currently protect and support victims of CSA; develop comprehensive social, economic and legal strategies to improve the effectiveness of services directed at preventing and responding to CSA; further understanding of the issues in supporting Chinese CSA victims in Australia; and better understand policy transfer from Australia to China.Read moreRead less
Reducing recurrence in the child protection system. The project examines the factors associated with once-only and repeated notifications of child abuse and neglect. It is important that early intervention services for vulnerable children are targeted to ensure an evidence-based match between child and family needs and services.
A study of best practice in intervention with parental agreement: creating change with families in statutory child protection services. This project will explore how parental agreements can be used in statutory child protection services as an alternative to more intrusive forms of intervention. Expected outcomes include better use of parental agreements to enhance the protection of children and promote the well-being of vulnerable families.
What's best for my child? Parents' perspectives of childcare quality and early learning as contributors to childcare choice. This project will explore parents' understandings of early learning and childcare quality, and how these understandings contribute to childcare choice. The project will inform the Australian Government's policy directive of giving children the best start in life and support parents' capacity to make choices that they consider are best for their child.
The impact of incarceration on children's care: a strategic framework for good care planning. This project will study best practice for care planning of children whose primary carers are incarcerated within the Australian criminal justice system. It will develop a strategic framework for future policy and practice in Australian care planning with the aim of improving outcomes for both parents and children.