We underestimate child abuse, say experts

November 13, 2019

Australians continue to underestimate how often our children are abused, safety advocates warn.

A daily average of 88 young victims or one every 16 minutes encountered some form of neglect or physical, emotional or sexual harm during 2017-2018, Australia Institute of Health and Welfare data reveals.

It's alarming how little people are aware of what goes on, Save the Children Australia's principal adviser on child protection Karen Flanagan told AAP.

"It seems that people are still very unaware of the extent and the nature of the prevalence of child abuse in Australia," said the social worker, who has decades of experience.

"It still puzzles me as to why the public is not willing or able to entertain this reality."

Just 10 per cent of 1000 Australians surveyed online in September for the child rights organisation correctly estimated how many children are abused each day.

Parents were more likely than others to underrate how often the abuse happens, despite most abuse occurring in the home, the results released on Tuesday reveal.

"The official data shows that child abuse substantiates in the system are steadily increasing ... that tells us something is not right," Ms Flanagan said.

"Either our responses to it are not adequate or we're not getting in early enough to intervene early where there are some risks in families and support them."

Convinced it is the type and quality of the service that makes a difference, Ms Flanagan is helping launch the organisation's centenary appeal to raise $100,000 in seven days.

"We want to minimise the short- and long-term impacts of child abuse and family violence," she said, adding the money would build on existing early prevention programs.

"We need to work at the beginning end of the continuum, not at the end. Prevention and early intervention work are far cheaper and we need to maximise our scarce resources."

(Source)