This paper sets the context for a review of family preservation and family reunification research by briefly noting the national and international crisis that currently surrounds foster care. It then presents the recent family preservation and family reunification research from the US and Australia. Some of this material is drawn from the book by Maluccio, Ainsworth and Thoburn (2000), ‘Child welfare outcome research in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia’. The decision to focus on the US material stems from the fact that these terms originated there in the 1980s and this is where the major research studies are to be found The final comments focus on the re-emphasis on permanency planning and adoption, at least in New South Wales (NSW), and the implications of this for family preservation and reunification services.

While participation of parents in case planning in child protection is widely accepted as desirable, in practice both workers and parents are often left frustrated by the outcomes of child protection meetings. Two models of managing the decision making process are reviewed, Looking After Children (LAC) and Family Decision Making (FDM). Approaches to preparation, planning and management of conflict are highlighted. Strategies for facilitating parental participation are identified and can be applied more broadly to child protection meetings, to encourage more effective outcomes.

In recent years there has been considerable analysis of how the media create images of crime. The relationship between child abuse and the media has also been subject to greater scrutiny. This article examines the role of one newspaper in a child protection case. The part played by the newspaper in the court case led to an examination of the language used by the media in their representations of children. The researchers found that a child may be objectified in language even when the child’s gender is previously identified. The ‘gender slippage’ may in extreme cases lead to the ‘textual abuse’ of children, where child abuse is rewritten to lessen the impact on the reader. The authors conclude that the actions of journalists and the language they use require more critical analysis.

When the Wood Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service released its final Report on the Paedophile Inquiry in August 1997, its recommendation to remove the distinction between heterosexual and female homosexual sex and male homosexual sex by lowering the age currently set for the latter category surprised many citizens. There was concern, firstly, about the fact that the lack of satisfactory protective mechanisms in the prevailing laws would escape investigation and, secondly, that acts previously understood to be paedophilia and pederasty would be de-criminalised, thereby increasing the vulnerability of young Australians to sexual predators.

The Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Bill, introduced into the New South Wales Parliament in October 1997, and reintroduced in 1999, suggests a firm determination to implement the Royal Commission recommendation on consent, notwithstanding the fact that such change would be implemented in the absence of community debate and without addressing the implications of de-criminalisation. Although the Bill was rejected in the Upper House on both occasions, it is believed that further attempts will be made in the near future and, again, it will be in the absence of broad community debate. It is also widely believed that, should a change of this nature be implemented in New South Wales, it will have implications for children in other states across Australia.

This paper explores the implications of equalising at a lower rather than higher minimum age of consent.

Looking After Children (LAC), a case management system for children in out-of-home care, has been the subject of pilot implementation in several Australian states. Barnardos Australia, in association with the University of NSW, implemented LAC in all of its out-of-home care programs as part of an Australian Research Council (ARC) research grant, in 1997–99.

This study looks at the factors affecting implementation of Looking After Children in Barnardos Australia out-of-home care programs during the initial twelve month period (1997–98). Information collected from interviews with eleven program managers, and examination of records containing LAC material on casework files, are used to explore factors which assisted or impeded LAC implementation. Similarities are highlighted between UK and Australian experiences of LAC implementation, and issues are raised of significance to agencies considering using LAC.

Previous studies have revealed that the teaching of personal safety strategies to children is spasmodic and selective, avoiding vital information that would help children to identify and report sexual abuse. In this study a questionnaire was used to explore the views of 33 South Australian junior primary teachers regarding the teaching of personal safety to children.

Results showed that most of the participating teachers claimed to teach some personal safety skills, using a variety of materials and methods, but it would appear that they concentrated on ‘safe’ topics such as road safety and avoided topics relating to child sexual abuse and violence. It was also found that 50% had not undertaken any training within the last two years even though the overwhelming majority felt that further training was required in order to teach topics effectively. This suggested that motivation for teaching personal safety was low. These and other findings are discussed and recommendations for greater emphasis on training of teachers and further research into this area are made.

The prevalence and hurtfulness of aggressive actions from peers at school experienced by Australian adolescents was examined with a sample of 652 Year 9 students (mean age 14 years) attending seven secondary schools in Adelaide, South Australia. Kinds of aggressive actions reported were categorised as physical, verbal and relational. In general, boys reported receiving more physical aggression; girls more relational aggression. Although girls tended to report being hurt more by aggressive acts than boys, they were similar in reporting acts of relational aggression, such as exclusion, as more hurtful to them than being subjected to physical aggression. Implications for interventions to reduce aggression in schools are discussed.