Child Abuse and Neglect: a socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia

Appendix 1: Research Approach

Overview

The research project entitled Child Abuse and Neglect: A Socio-legal study of mandatory reporting in Australia was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services, and administered through the Victorian Department of Human Services in 2013-2014. The project arose as a result of two coinciding events. First, the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry in 2012 had made a recommendation that the Victorian Government obtain the agreement of all jurisdictions to undertake a national evaluation of mandatory reporting schemes with a view to identifying opportunities to harmonise the various statutory regimes (Cummins, Scott, & Scales, 2012, recommendation 46, p 349). Second, an approach had been made by the research team⁶⁰ to the Victorian Government to conduct a very similar research project, which in some ways was broader than the funded project,⁶¹ and in other ways narrower.

The research project and its central questions were designed through liaison and negotiation between the research team and the Victorian Department to meet the needs of the Victorian Department and the recommendation in the Inquiry. The essence of the research project is to explore in every Australian State and Territory the reporting by different reporter groups of different types of suspected child abuse and neglect. Accordingly, the research project is not aimed at exploring reports by mandated or non-mandated reporters of family support issues or low-level child welfare issues which are normally termed ‘child concern reports’.