Media Kit

NAPCAN spokespeople available for interview

NAPCAN has a number of senior staff, experts, and board members who are available for interviews or comment on most topics relating to child wellbeing. Please contact Helen Fogarty on 0410 541997 or helen.fogarty@napcan.org.au to coordinate.

5 September 2021 – Media release

Governor-General launches National Child Protection Week 

‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’ is the theme of National Child Protection Week 2021, which kicks off on Fathers’ Day, 5 September.

NAPCAN Patron, Governor-General David Hurley encourages everyone to embrace the challenge to ensure every child, in every community, gets a fair go.

“Every child has a right to be loved, cared for, to have their needs to be met and be afforded the chance to realise their potential. This goal must be important to all Australians.

“I commend all of those already working hard every day – as individuals, as community members, as volunteers and as workers – to help create communities that support families and children.”

NAPCAN CEO Richard Cooke says, “Research tells us that prolonged ‘toxic’ stress such as living in a community with high rates of abuse and violence may stop children from getting a strong foundation for life. Without adequate supports, this can impact early brain development, as well as future physical health.”

“The stress of finances, health, work or relationships – let alone a global pandemic – makes it difficult for parents to navigate life’s choppy waters and provide the stability that is so important for children.”

“Together, let’s work to make sure every neighbourhood has strong foundations for families and children – from jobs, stable housing, health services, financial support, and child care – through to libraries, parks, playgrounds, clubs, and social supports.”

“When we address these root causes of stress, we lighten the load for families and create healthier communities for everyone, particularly children.”

National Child Protection Week runs from 5 – 11 September and involves community events (online and offline) all around Australia.

A key part of the 2021 campaign will be a series of free online webinars, open to everyone who wants to start conversations about supporting families and children to thrive in their community.

The Governor-General will officially launch National Child Protection Week at a public live-streamed event on Monday 6 September.

For more information visit www.napcan.org.au.

NAPCAN is the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

NAPCAN coordinates National Child Protection Week annually with support from the Department of Social Services and many organisations and individuals across Australia.

Media contact: Helen Fogarty, NAPCAN, helen.fogarty@napcan.org.au 0410 541997

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Tuesday 24 August 2020 – Media Alert

National Child Protection Week invites everyone in Australia to be part of the conversation

‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’ is the theme of National Child Protection Week 2021 which kicks off on Fathers’ Day, 5 September. 

In partnership with the community and following the strict COVID guidelines, NAPCAN – the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect – will be coordinating a range of free events during the week including a program of free webinars open to everyone. 

NAPCAN CEO, Richard Cooke, says, “To treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure every family and community has what kids need to thrive and be healthy.” 

“The added stress on families due to the coronavirus pandemic means National Child Protection Week is more important than ever.” 

“As many people as possible – not just ‘experts’ – need to be part of important conversations about creating a society and communities that support families and children.” 

“With the shift to mostly online webinars (due to social distancing restrictions) we are bringing together diverse and influential speakers from all over Australia to a broader audience to help drive these conversations.” 

During the week, there will be free webinars covering topics such as: 

• COVID and child mental health 
• What every neighbourhood needs in order for children to do well 
• How communication can shape early childhood outcomes
• Importance of cultural connection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
• Ensuring that children and young people with disability receive a fair go
• Respectful relationships education for teens
• Addressing domestic violence in the fight to end child abuse 
• Safe social media usage for children (including sessions for parents and classroom events for teachers). 

The Governor-General, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) will be officially launching the week in a live-streamed event on Monday 6 September. The launch will also feature a keynote presentation by Anne Hollonds, National Children’s Commissioner, who will look at the big picture of preventing child abuse in Australia.

To register for a webinar, or for other ways to get involved, go to https://www.napcan.org.au/get-involved-2021/

NAPCAN is the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. NAPCAN coordinates National Child Protection Week annually with support from the Department of Social Services and many organisations and individuals across Australia. 

Media contact: Helen Fogarty, helen.fogarty@napcan.org.au 0410 541997 

Background NAPCAN & National Child Protection Week

About NAPCAN & primary prevention

The National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) advocates for the rights of children and young people. We know that the only way to keep children and young people safe from harm is to stop abuse before it occurs and prevent them from entering the statutory child protection system. We know that ‘primary prevention’ is the best option for children, for families, for communities, and for government budgets.

Primary prevention of child abuse is defined as any intervention that prevents child abuse from occurring, including strategies such as:

• building strong communities where everyone understands their role in protecting children
• valuing children and advocating for their rights, and for their voices to be heard
• expanding and improving coordination of social services
• supporting families
• educating families about child behavior, discipline, safety and development
• creating organisations that are child safe and child friendly.

NAPCAN makes a significant contribution to the wellbeing of Australia’s children and young people by raising the awareness of child abuse and neglect in Australia, and promoting and implementing effective prevention strategies and programs, including professional development and respectful relationships education.

National Child Protection Week 2021 

• National Child Protection Week 2021 runs from Sunday 5th – Saturday 11th September this year.
• National Child Protection Week has been running since 1990 starting on Fathers’ Day each September.
• The theme for 2021 is: Every child, in every community, needs a fair go. To treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure every family and community has what kids need to thrive and be healthy.
• The aim of the week is to engage all members of the community to ‘Play a Part’ in improving child wellbeing and keep children safe in Australia.
• NAPCAN coordinates National Child Protection Week with support from the federal government and a range of public, private and community partners.
• National Child Protection Week provides a platform to enhance the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, by informing, empowering and resourcing organisations and communities to play their part in responding to local needs.

Key Messages

• Every child, in every community, needs a fair go. To treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure every family and community has what kids need to thrive and be healthy. 
• Children can thrive and be healthy when they have what they need to develop well. But not every family has these resources.
• This is why we need to support every child, family and community according to their needs. This will create a healthier, fairer Australia for all children.
• Let’s make sure our neighbourhoods have strong foundations for families and children – jobs, safe places, libraries, parks, playgrounds, schools, child care, affordable housing, health services, social activities, clubs, friendly neighbours, businesses and more.
• To raise thriving children, Australian parents need support.
• Children thrive when parents have the support they need.
• For healthy development, children need life to be on an even keel. But for families experience poverty and stress, raising children is like sailing in rough waters. Helping parents with counselling, quality child care and financial support makes sure that they have the lighthouses and safe harbours that they need to navigate these rough waters.
• To develop in healthy and positive ways, children need life to be stable, even when families face rough times. Just as a strong skipper learns to be adaptable and to seek help when they need it, we can help parents to navigate life’s storms.
• Raising thriving healthy children is all-important and building young brains takes work. Parents need support to help children develop the skills they need.
• Raising thriving children is like building a house from the foundations up. When they interact with their children, parents are building brains. We need better policies to support parents to help children to learn and grow from the earliest days onwards.
• Australia’s children thrive when our policies and programs support parents. We need to help all children develop healthily, especially when families experience tough times.

Child abuse & neglect statistics & research

The need for prevention is highlighted by the high human and financial cost of child abuse and neglect in Australia. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Child protection Australia 2019–20 report (Child welfare series. Cat. no. CWS 78. Canberra: AIHW): 

• 1 in 32 children received child protection services in 2019-20, with 67% being repeat clients
  

• Over the 5 year period between 2012–13 and 2016–17, the number of children receiving child protection services rose by about 25% .
  

• 174,700 (1 in 32) children had an investigation, care and protection order and/or were placed in out-of-home care.
• 30,600 children have been in out-of-home care for 2 years or more
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children continued to be over-represented
  1 in 6 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children received child protection services
• Nationally, emotional abuse was the most common primary type of abuse or neglect substantiated for children (54%), followed by neglect (22%), physical abuse (14%), and sexual abuse (9%).
• Children from geographically remote areas had the highest rates of substantiations
  Children from Very remote areas were more than 3 times as likely as those from Major cities to be the subject of a substantiation.

Limitations of child protection statistics as an indicator for child maltreatment incidence according to Child Family Community Australia (CFCA) Resource Sheet, Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics — June 2017: Traditionally, child protection data have been perceived as a conservative estimate of the occurrence of child maltreatment (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004). Child abuse and neglect often go undetected due to the private nature of the crime, the difficulties children experience in making disclosures and being believed, and a lack of evidence to substantiate the crime (CFCA, 2015). The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that many victims may not disclose the abuse for many years, and some may never disclose at all (Mathews et al., 2016). Child protection data only include those cases of abuse and neglect that were detected and reported and are therefore likely to be an underestimation of the number of children abused or neglected (Mathews et al., 2016).