Communities keeping kids safe : integrated responses to children and young people living with domestic violence

Children living with domestic violence are at high risk of abuse and death. Research reveals a 45-70% correlation for domestic violence and abuse of children. Over a 13 year period in Australia, on average 25 children per annum are killed by their parents. Sixty three percent of these killings are perpetrated by the father, with 21% of these known to be motivated by ‘domestic altercation’ and a further 9% motivated by ‘family separation’. Despite the evidence, state child protection responses to children living with domestic violence have remained largely uncoordinated. This paper provides an overview of a collaborative process between non-government organisations and the statutory child protection authorities in the Mackay and Whitsunday Region of Queensland, which resulted in a formalised and integrated response to children living with domestic violence. This response is in the form of a protocol document that has been formally adopted by key response agencies for child protection and domestic violence and integrated into policy and practice guidelines. Reflections on the challenges, key learnings and evaluation outcomes for the first and second stage will also be presented.