20th Anniversary Conference 2025

We were delighted to host our Listening, Learning, Leading conference and a day of practice workshops on 18 and 19 November to celebrate 20 years of research and collaboration between the ACT’s Health Community Services Directorate and ACU’s Institute of Child Protection Studies.

Over the two days we learned about new research that will shape our work in the years to come, and heard from experienced practitioners about what works to support the lives of children, young people and families.

Day 1 featured keynote addresses, research presentations and a panel discussion from experts across Australia. The presentations brought together research evidence to inform and support cross sector practice and conversations with children, young people and families. The day 2 workshops focused on key practice areas including bringing the infant and child alive in the minds of parents, workers and the system when working with domestic and family violence, grievance, trauma, gender, shame and masculinity, neurodiversity in the youth justice space and engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.

We hope the presentations gave everyone a sense of invigoration and a renewed focus on how reform isn't just about fixing what's broken after harm has occurred. We were also reminded how important the work that you do, day in day out, plays in the lives of children, young people and families. Whether you are a service provider, case manager, researcher, youth worker, educator or policy maker, you make a difference.

Resources from the conference

We are delighted to share notes from some of the keynote speakers and presenters from day 1:

• Professor Daryl Higgins: Child protection: public health and the need for prevention with evidence from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study
• Professor Sharon Goldfeld AM: Radical pragmatism: can we achieve equity in child health and development in a generation
• Aunty Muriel Bamblett, Adjunct Professor AM: Looking forward and looking back: working with and for Aboriginal children, young people and families
• Professor Melissa O’Donnell: Utilising evidence to inform child protection policy, prevention and practice
• Corey White: The watchtower and the village: preventing crisis, sustaining communities
• Hayley Boxall: Adolescents and youth violence in the home
• ICPS PhD students - Lisa Fenn, Lottie Harris, Gabrielle Hunt, Dhatsayini Rattambige, Dr Ulrike Marwitz: Bridging the research-practice gap: perspectives from recent ICPS PhD studies
• Rodney Vlais: Grievance, trauma, gender, shame and masculinity (handout also available). 

On top of hearing about research and its implications for system change, we also saw some powerful quotes from children and young adults who have contributed to research conducted by the Institute of Child Protection Studies. Download the PDF: What we have learned.

Posters

We also displayed posters of some of the research that we have conducted over the years. Many of the projects featured in the posters have been funded by the ACT’s Health Community Services Directorate. Some posters also feature research based on data from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study. They all cover a wide range of topics that reflect the broad research agenda of the Institute of Child Protection Studies:

• “A lot of judgement stems from stereotypes”: Young people’s views on Australian attitudes towards disability
• Building survivor-aware sexual health and relationship education
• Chasing safety: Young people’s experiences of spending time away from out-of-home care
• Childhood adversities and problematic alcohol use in Australian youth
• Exploring young people’s experiences of transition from youth detention in the ACT
• Family conflict and homelessness
• Mapping the evidence: What is known about child sexual exploitation in Australia?
• Me, Myself and I: Identity and meaning in the lives of vulnerable young people
• Multi-type maltreatment in youth
• Peer sexual harassment in Australia: The case for early comprehensive sex education
• Safe and Sound: Exploring the safety of young people in residential care
• Strengthening relationships and connections for young people in therapeutic residential care
• Strong foundations, strong futures: Extended care and supported transitions from out-of-home care
• Young people’s experience of mental health in out-of-home care and treatment strategies

We will keep in touch

Contact us if you have any questions about the conference: icps@acu.edu.au