Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ) director Siyavash Doostkhah slammed the Queensland Government for walking all over children's rights. The announcement today that the Queensland Government will continue to lock up children in adult prisons is simply unacceptable. Queensland children are the only children in Australia to be locked up in adult prisons.

A recent article published on the Children & Young People Now website cautions against the increasing medicalisation of children.  Read the article here: http://bit.ly/ngfijQ

The Participation of Children and Young People in Emergencies captures examples of children's involvement in the tsunami disaster response and recovery phases, as collected by UNICEF and a wide array of partners and UN agencies. While a large portion of the material in this guide refers to the December 2004 tsunami, the guide also includes examples of children's participation in emergencies drawn from elsewhere to show how their actions in the tsunami were not isolated.

The website of Young Media Australia (YMA) includes a page entitled "Too Sexy Too Soon".  On this page YMA keeps track of developments in the area of the sexualisation of children in the media.  You can also download from this page a fact sheet that summarises what experts have to say about the sexualisation of children in the media, what parents and others can do about it, and the names of groups who are working towards making a difference on this issue.

For more information visit http://www.youngmedia.org.au/mediachildren/03_15_too_sexy_index.htm.

This guide, published by the Child Safety Commissioner, Victoria has been written to help professionals, carers and others understand the needs of children and young people who have been affected by trauma through abuse and neglect.

The guide includes a section on strategies for dealing with particular issues; and effective ways of working with young people, taking into account the impact of the negative experiences they have had in their lives.

Download the guide from http://is.gd/882mT (PDF).

This report takes a systems-based approach to child protection, by examining the factors that facilitate a shift across organisational and child protection systems towards the prevention of child abuse and neglect. One of the essential components of such a radical shift is collaboration across professions, sectors and levels of government to deliver the best outcomes for children. The report considers best practice examples from Britain, the United States and Australia (Victoria). It identifies four key elements required to move the system to a more preventive focus: articulation of a shared vision; building a supportive culture; integrated governance arrangements; legislative support.

Read the full report at http://is.gd/x7aK.

Source: Australian Policy Online.

The CYE Journal is the world's leading publication with interdisciplinary articles, reports, and analyses of children, youth, and their environments. Topics include children and technology, international perspectives on youth and child participation, and school design .

By Martina Boese, Janet Stanley, Carole Baker and Jody Hughes / Brotherhood of St Laurence

An evaluation of the Cottage Centre for Families and Children which served inner-Melbourne families with young children shows that it was an effective model for assisting families with complex needs.

This inquiry by the Environment, Communications and the Arts Senate Committee (of the Commonwealth Parliament) investigated the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media environment, including radio and television, children's magazines, other print and advertising material and the Internet.

The report from the inquiry can be downloaded from http://www.aph.gov.au/SENATE/committee/eca_ctte/sexualisation_of_children/.

The inquiry made 13 recommendations as follows...

By Sharon Bessell and Tali Gal / Crawford School of Economics and Government 

The care and protection of children experiencing or considered to be at risk of abuse or neglect within their families is a major policy dilemma. Children in the care and protection system do not fare well on a range of indicators, when compared to the overall population.

By Sharon Bessell and Tali Gal (Crawford School of Economics and Government)
First Posted 21-11-2007 at Australian Policy Online

This paper synthesises concepts of human rights, children's needs and citizenship as a basis for redefining policy and services for children in out of home care. The authors suggest that improved support for children in out of home care requires the recognition of children as partners.

Source: Commission for Children and Young People 

The Child Guardian Report 2006 has revealed Indigenous children in out-of-home care are over-represented in the number of serious concerns raised about their quality of care.

The report, released by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, reports on children and young people in the child safety system in Queensland.

Little children are sacred: Report of the NT Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse

The Board of Inquiry was created by the Northern Territory Government in August 2006 to research and report on allegations of sexual abuse of Aboriginal children. The Inquiry was established to find better ways to protect Aboriginal children from sexual abuse.

The full report is now available: Little children are sacred: Report of the NT Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse (PDF file).  Or you can read a Summary of the report.

By John Tomlinson.  First published in On Line Opinion on June 29, 2007.

The first Howard Government Budget 1996-7 removed $400 million from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. In 2004 he abolished the Commission in its entirety.

Howard claimed he was going to solve the practical problems which prevented Indigenous people taking their place in modern Australia. He claimed he would end “dependence on welfare”. Howard attacked those he accused of promoting a black armband version of history. He refused to say “Sorry” to the stolen generations. He consistently argued that issues of symbolic importance to Indigenous people paled into insignificance when compared with his determination to seek practical solutions to the problems facing the Aboriginal community. 

This article in the New York Times shows how the drug industry is able to influence the behaviours of those on their payroll - for instance:

From 2000 to 2005, drug maker payments to Minnesota psychiatrists rose more than sixfold, to $1.6 million. During those same years, prescriptions of antipsychotics for children in Minnesota’s Medicaid program rose more than ninefold.  Those who took the most money from makers of atypicals (a class of drug) tended to prescribe the drugs to children the most often, the data suggest.

Read the full article on the Mindfreedom website. 

By Terry Hannon / Flat Out Inc. and the Victorian Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.

When a primary carer is arrested and sent to prison their children suffer. An extensive amount of research has documented the psycho-social, academic, and developmental impact on children when their primary carer goes to prison. Despite the obvious need for policy, there is a dearth of information about existing or developing policies that address the needs of prisoners’ children, both in Australia and internationally.

The full report, Children: unintended victims of legal process. A review of policies and legislation affecting children with incarcerated parents is available at Australian Policy Online .