The Australian Childhood Foundation released in September 2009 its third report in a series regarding community attitudes about child abuse and child protection across the nation. Entitled “Doing nothing hurts children” the report was published in partnership with the Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia centre at Monash University.
One of the most distressing findings was that 1 in 4 adults has personally witnessed a case of child abuse or neglect in the past five years somewhere in Australia. And of these, 44% were so anxious about the safety of the child that they made a report to the child protection authorities or the police. Another 21% had discussed their concerns with another kind of authority, but 16%, that is 1 in 16, had done nothing at all. Of those who took no action it was because they were unsure about who was the best person or agency to contact (53%) or they were simply unwilling to become involved (24%).
Other findings of note included the fact that 93% of Australians agreed that a parent who caused an injury to a child should be charged by the police; 85% believed that a child who witnessed domestic violence between their parents had experienced a form of abuse; 1 in 3 Australians would not believe a child who told them they were being abused; and 1 in 5 lacked the confidence to know what to do if they thought that a child was being abused or neglected.
The findings also revealed that unless they come face-to-face with the issue, most Australians rate petrol prices, public transport and roads as issues of greater importance than child abuse. That said 86% believed that the government should invest more money in protecting children from abuse and neglect and 90% believes that the public needs to be better informed about the problem.
In response to their findings the Foundation has urged the Commonwealth Government to fund a sustained public awareness program that engages the community to develop a shared sense of responsibility for the protection of our nation’s children. To read about the work of the foundation go to http://www.childhood.org.au/home/