The public health model for child safety and wellbeing

Many of DCJ’s services sit on an end-to-end public health model of child safety and wellbeing. There are three tiers in this model: Primary (or universal) child safety and wellbeing services, secondary child safety and wellbeing services, and tertiary child safety and wellbeing services. This is also known as the public health model.

Primary child safety and wellbeing services

Primary (or universal) child safety and wellbeing services target whole communities or populations to strengthen protective factors and diminish the drivers of child abuse and neglect. Prevention programs are generally primary or universal. Examples include:

• The National Association for Prevention of Child abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) promotes evidence based public awareness of child abuse and neglect, and promotes child safety through public events and advocating for child safe policies and strategies.
• The One Talk at a Time campaign developed by the National Office for Child Safety, aims to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.
• The ‘There’s no excuse for abuse’ campaign, developed by Our Watch, aims to challenge public assumptions about domestic and family violence through television and other public campaigning. By shifting public attitudes, social awareness becomes a protective factor that mitigates violence.

Other examples of universal services that contribute to prevention are mainstream education and health care services, such as antenatal services and quality childcare.

Secondary child safety and wellbeing services

Secondary (or targeted) child safety and wellbeing services support children and families with certain vulnerabilities or who are already experiencing violence, abuse and neglect or at greater risk of this. ‘Early intervention’ services are generally secondary or targeted.

Some examples of these services include family and parenting services provided under DCJ’s Community and Family Support Program that support families with additional, emerging needs to strengthen the safety and wellbeing of children and prevent future harm to them. Other examples include: supported playgroups, targeted prenatal services such as Pregnancy Family Conferencing, and Aboriginal Child and Family Centres.

Tertiary child safety and wellbeing services

Tertiary child safety and wellbeing services is also known as ‘child protection'. This is where DCJ works with children and families where some form of serious child abuse or neglect is already happening and the child is determined to be in need of care and protection.

Statutory child protection services, out-of-home care (OOHC) and family preservation and restoration services are provided by DCJ to address acute safety concerns and complex needs in families to prevent the likelihood of significant harm occurring in the future.

Tertiary health, disability and youth justice services also form part of the tertiary child safety and wellbeing service system.

Families can access multiple tiers at once

In reality, the children and families we work with often engage with all three system tiers at the same time. Prevention and early intervention are both key to the long-term reduction of child abuse and neglect, while tertiary services provide absolutely essential work with families with more acute and complex problems. Risk factors that families experience can change over time as their circumstances change. A coordinated approach that sees services and agencies working together offers the best possible chance of reducing child abuse and neglect across the population.