2nd Australasian Conference on Child Death Inquiries and Reviews

The Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian and the Department of Communities, Child Safety Services recently co-hosted the 2nd Australasian Conference on Child Death Inquiries and Reviews, which was held in Brisbane on 19-20 August 2010.

Approximately 90 participants were in attendance and displayed commendable levels of participation and contribution to the conference over the two days. The conference also provided participants with the opportunity to demonstrate innovative practice and service delivery for the purpose of strengthening the child protection system and supporting vulnerable children and young people.

Participants from the relevant states and territories were asked to consider and identify ways in which review processes strengthen child protection service delivery in Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore, the conference provided a forum for participants to:

• share innovations that have strengthened child protection practice
• explore opportunities for enhancing review practice, and
• build understanding of commonalties and diversities across jurisdictions.

The conference included a wide range of presentations from each jurisdiction, showcasing the innovations and practices being achieved across Australia and New Zealand.

Keynote speaker Dr Leah Bromfield, Associate Professor, University of South Australia and Deputy Director, Australian Centre for Child Protection, addressed the conference about the role of child death reviews in an integrated system for enhancing child protection practice.

Facilitated workshops were also conducted to identify gaps on current knowledge and practice and to share information about how these issues can be addressed. The theme of the discussions was ‘Reflecting on the past, looking to the future: child death review processes as evolutionary systems’. Issues that were explored included:

• how review processes best encourage open and active participation from staff and community agencies
• strategies to demonstrate respect to the child’s family as well as review participants when undertaking reviews of cases which reflect cultural issues
• strategies to encourage participants to take ownership of outcomes, recommendations and reforms
• strategies used in writing for outcomes while retaining relevance for different audiences
• measuring the outcomes and effectiveness of the oversight review body
• engaging with external agencies in the oversight review process, and
• how the oversight body can best facilitate engagement with original review bodies.

The next Australasian Conference on Child Death Inquiries and Reviews will be held in New South Wales in 2012.

Last Updated: November 2, 2010

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