Newborn baby and handReports indicate that an increasing number of pregnant women are being notified to child protection authorities and infants removed from their families, often permanently. These notifications, substantiations, and removals disproportionately affect certain populations of Australians facing adversity, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and mothers who have previously had children removed. An extensive and ongoing program of work, led by Prof Melissa O’Donnell, Deputy Director, Research, has sought to examine and increase knowledge about the nature, extent, and impact of the removal of infants (<1 year old) and newborns from their mothers. The work aims to identify appropriate early intervention and prevention strategies to help prevent the removal of babies from their families, and to improve services and practices that are involved in child protection responses to perinatal notifications.

There are several projects that have and continue to contribute to this program of work, undertaken with a number of partner organisations highlighted below. The contributions of people with lived experience to this work has also been extensive; you can read more about this here.

Projects

Infants removed by child protection: nature, extent and impact

Funded by Australian Research Council Discovery grant

This project, undertaken in collaboration with Australian Catholic University, Murdoch University, Lancaster University and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, used administrative data, case file reviews and interviews with families to investigate the prevalence and incidence of pregnant mothers and infants involved in child protection; examine the processes to which families were subjected; and the extent and nature of services and interventions that families experienced.

Findings 

The research determined that across most Australian states we are seeing increasing rates of mothers notified to child protection during pregnancy and increasing rate of infants subsequently removed. All Australian jurisdictions who collect and approved release of prenatal notification data experienced increases in the rates of children with prenatal notifications of 4% per year across Australia. Approximately 33% of children who were notified had a substantiated prenatal notification. Rates of infant entry to out-of-home care in Australia increased by 2% per year.  

We also conducted interviews in Western Australia and New South Wales with mothers involved in child protection during pregnancy. Parents predominantly became involved with child protection services during pregnancy through a prenatal report. Parents who had their newborn removed from their care described it as sudden and unexpected, leaving them distressed and unsupported post-removal, with a growing list of requirements for them to see their baby or for restoration to be considered. Domestic violence was a particular issue of concern for some mothers who expressed distress that their partners, perpetrators of violence, were allowed access to their infant with fewer requirements than for them. Improvements recommended by the parents included greater communication and preparation for the removal, better recognition of improvements in their situations and increased supports to be provided to parents both pre- and post-removal.

Our other research findings utilising the New South Wales Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study found that a high proportion (70%) of infants who entered OoHC were assessed as developmentally vulnerable. This highlighted that these infants require comprehensive health and wellbeing assessments. The provision of early intervention services is essential for this group of high-risk infants and will be important in optimising their health, as well as social and emotional outcomes.

More detailed findings can be read in the project’s publications listed below. 

Improving practice when child protection intervenes with pregnant mothers and newborns: co-design and evaluation of evidence informed guidelines 

Funded by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation 

This project focusses on understanding the experiences of families and practitioners who have been involved with child protection processes and services, and using this feedback to improve practice guidance. Focus groups have been held with 15 service providers to determine the processes in which practitioners have been involved, as well as the services they have provided to families.

Our analysis of national data has also determined that in states where families are notified to child protection during the pregnancy, they are more likely to have a removal in first few months after the birth.

Samantha Burrow, our Perron-funded PhD student, has also conducted an international systematic review of parental views of perinatal support and processes with findings to be published.

Co-design workshops have been conducted with service providers and families to develop principles and leading practice guidance for working with families facing adversity during the perinatal period, many of whom are involved in child protection prior to and following the birth of their child.

Findings 

While this work is still underway, the focus groups and interviews undertaken for this project have highlighted the challenges that these mothers face in the complexity of issues, adequacy of service provision, child protection involvement and the development of pre-birth plans to address their health and safety needs.

Future directions

The ACCP and our partners are continuing our work in this important area, with the aim of reducing infant removals and supporting vulnerable families in the perinatal period experiencing child protection interventions. With the findings from our work to date, we are now seeking to embark on the next phase, with the co-design of guidelines to optimise perinatal practice, including care coordination for mothers facing adversity. If you would like to support or partner in this next phase of work, please contact Prof Melissa O’Donnell, Deputy Director, Research.

Publications

ACCP Staff involved in this program of work

Fernando Lima
Research Assistant, UniSA Justice & Society
Miriam Maclean
Research Fellow, UniSA Justice & Society
Renée Usher
Research Assistant, UniSA Justice & Society

External members