See below for information that can be used by those looking to generate media around National Child Protection Week (4-10 September 2022).
For additional information please contact NAPCAN on contact@napcan.org.au.
See below for information that can be used by those looking to generate media around National Child Protection Week (4-10 September 2022).
For additional information please contact NAPCAN on contact@napcan.org.au.
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.
Media releases available August 2022.
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:
NAPCAN makes a significant contribution to the wellbeing of Australia’s children and young people by raising 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 2022
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):
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).