Issues in Child Protection

For the purposes of this essay I will be discussing Child Protection in the context of the quote “One of the fundamental purposes of a civilised society is to protect its members from acts of violence committed by others” Family Violence Prevention Taskforce 1994, p. iii.

Child protection in Australia in the context of “one of the fundamental purposes of a civilised society is to protect its members from acts of violence committed by others”, although obviously a concept all civilised societies would aim for, has not occurred in Australia historically (Hatty et al, 2000, p.1). In fact, Australia has had to come to terms with some of the actions of the past in terms of large scale maltreatment of children. , following historical events largely contributed and shaped the way child abuse is managed today and formed the foundations for which our currnet legislatons are based. This abuse evidently was the result of earlier governmental social policies and the manner in which they were enacted, by means of institutionalisation. (Hatty et al, 2000, p.9). In the late 1940’s Australia and other countries with ties to Britain participated in a program to bring children from institutions in Britain to Australia, the aim of this being to give disadvantaged children the opportunity to resettle and help boost the population. These individuals were seen to be young, healthy and cheap migrants. Hatty et al (2000) highlight however that these children were often deceived in Britain, being told their families did not want them or that they were orphans when this wasn’t the case. Australia failed to protect these individuals from violence committed by others. Families were separated, siblings sent to differing institutions and these children were used for slave labour and physically, emotionally and sexually abused (Hatty et al, 2000 p.9). These institutions were mainly run by church organisations and only recently have they requited and grudgingly become involved in considering...