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Published: 17 October 2023

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The following two research papers that were released very recently, bring again to the public square the growing, and often lifelong harms, of child abuse. 

Whilst these research offerings did not specifically look at contributing factors, the Dalgarno Institute continues to prompt a deeper look below the surface of these appalling statistics. 

The ‘causal and correlate’ debate around alcohol and other drugs in the domestic violence space is often wielded by pro-drug and alcohol defending advocates to ‘inform’ us that at worst it is correlate, as if somehow that makes substance use – legal or illicit – less culpable. Whilst we concur one cannot draw conclusions from ‘silence’ in these data sets, we have enough data on record to know that Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) are more often involved than not in – if not cause – then frequency, intensity, and ferocity of abuses on children. 

To our thinking this is no coincidence; with the growing cultural dysfunction and the turning to substances in self-medicating various ‘vicissitudes of life’ and the often-simple hedonic engagement with ‘feel good’ chemicals to assuage boredom. 

Regardless of motivators, without serious culture interventions, including the prevention and not promotion of substance use via decriminalisation and other permission models, we are only going to see these heinous harms increase.  

AOD and Community Health Policies and practices cannot be siloed from each other, and a far more serious campaign of prevention and demand reduction is vital in this era of growing violence against children. 

The prevalence and impact of child maltreatment in Australia: findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study: The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) is a landmark study for Australia. The ACMS research team has generated the first, nationally representative data on the prevalence of each of the five types of child maltreatment in Australia, and the associated health impacts through life.

The ACMS has found that child maltreatment is widespread and Australians who experience it are substantially more likely to have:

• severe mental health problems
• severe health risk behaviours
• higher health service utilisation.

(Source: https://apo.org.au/node/322153)

Listen to her. Act now: the experiences and impact of child abuse on Australian girls: There remains a relative paucity of evidence on the range of abusive behaviours experienced by girls during childhood. Importantly, in the context of increasing awareness of the importance of learning from lived experience there is limited research in this field which draws directly upon the experiences of children and young people with lived and living experience of domestic and family, including child abuse. Released to coincide with the 2023 United Nations International Day of the Girl, this summary report seeks to contribute to that gap in current research.

(Source: Listen to her. Act now: the experiences and impact of child abuse on Australian girls (apo.org.au)

Also see

• The ‘Unleashing’ Of Domestic, Familial & Intimate Partner Violence – The Drug Factor.
• Role of Illicit Drug Use in Domestic Violence (Aust)
• The link between alcohol/drug addiction and domestic violence

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Published: 06 September 2023

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I'll speak generally here, because the lessons I've learned from my near 35 years of experience are mainly universal, and not necessarily from within the confines of my own family. Some have been observed through other close relationships in my personal life , which is to say, they aren't my stories to tell.

However, if I feel a lesson is beneficial to this community, I'll share it , just in a respectful way. The last thing I'm out to do is hurt anyone's feelings or speak out of turn. That being said, I have plenty of experience on the matter at hand, in many different facets and forms. While I may be nonspecific at times, understand it's out of empathy, not shame or fear.

Real substance abuse problems absolutely tear families apart over entire lifetimes if families allow it to go unaddressed for that long. And many do. Many do because they don't know what else to do, other than what they've always done. Be it drinking or a drug. If they’re the user or acting like they don't know what the user is doing or if they’re the loved one.

It not only tears apart entire close families, but it does so from the inside out, in the most merciless, unforgiving, and ugly of fashions imaginable. Addiction and alcoholism don't care about you or your family's feelings. They don't care what happens to your wife, husband, mother, father, brother, sister, or kids.

They [addicts] lie because they think it is the truth that will crush their loved ones, but again, just the opposite is true. While yes, lies or omitting certain truths may be easier in the moment or at first, they are never the real solution. I don't care who tells you otherwise or how they justify it, they can spin it any way that helps them sleep at night. Lies are never better.

I know from watching how lies and omitting truths destroy entire families, with the root almost always being a drink or a drug…

Brian Brewington  (webmd.com)

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Published: 30 August 2023

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Anyone claiming they’re “fine to drive” after a couple of beers may think again after seeing the results of a scary test in Japan.

We’ve all heard it: “I’m fine, mate”, “It’s only 10 minutes away”, “I’m not coming back for my car tomorrow”.

But anyone claiming they’re “fine to drive” after a quiet couple of beers might want to think again after seeing the results of a peculiar test undertaken by this Japanese driving school.

Marking 17 years since the tragic drunk driving death of three small children in the city of Fukuoka, authorities opted for an unorthodox approach to getting the message across.

Chikushino Driving School has now begun offering controlled drink-driving experiences as part of a police campaign to convince motorists to never drink and drive.

Two reporters from the local Mainichi Shimbun newspaper took the test to see exactly how just a few drinks can impair someone.

The participants are asked to navigate three road sections, including a slalom, S-bend, and tight curves. First while sober, and then again after a social amount of booze.

One of the reporters, Hyelim Ha, was then told to down a 350ml can of beer, along with cups of umeshu plum wine and shochu spirit over about an hour.

A breathalyser test on Ha indicated an alcohol level of 0.30mg per litre of breath, twice the threshold of 0.15mg.

Despite saying she felt confident to drive, as many do, Ms Ha’s driving ability plummeted. But not in a way that she would immediately notice herself.

Drink driving causes approximately 30 per cent of fatal crashes in Australia, with over one in four drivers and passengers killed showing a blood-alcohol content over the legal limit.

In 2022, there were 1192 road fatalities in Australia, marking a 5.6 per cent increase on 2021. While fatalities have generally decreased over the past decade, from about 1300 to 1100 per year, there were 107 deaths on Australian roads in March alone.

For complete story   Alex Blair

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Published: 10 August 2023

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A large-scale evaluation of the impact of Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDAC) as an alternative to standard care proceedings (the new legal framework introduced by the Children and Families Act in 2014). FDAC aims to address the problems which have led the local authority to bring the parent(s) to court by using a ‘problem-solving’ approach. This involves a specialist multi-disciplinary team working closely with a judge and other professionals to provide intensive support to parents, with the aim of reducing their substance misuse issues. 

Objectives: The objective of the impact evaluation was to understand the effect of FDAC proceedings on reunification for children and families at the end of care proceedings compared to standard care proceedings. The evaluation also aimed to test if parents who had been through the FDAC process as opposed to standard care proceedings were more likely to stop misusing substances, and also investigated if there were any differences in the rate of contested final hearings or the use of expert witnesses in proceedings.

Key findings:

• Children with a primary carer in FDAC care proceedings were more likely to be reunified with their primary carer at the end of the care proceeding in comparison to children with a primary carer in non-FDAC care proceedings (52.0% versus 12.5%).
• A higher proportion of FDAC than comparison parents had ceased to misuse drugs or alcohol by the end of the proceedings (33.6% versus 8.1%).
• The proportion of hearings being contested was lower for FDAC than standard care proceedings (4.2% versus 23.8%).
• A lower proportion of FDAC cases used external expert witness assessments compared with non-FDAC care proceedings (7.7% versus 96.1%).
• Children in FDAC sites had lower probability of being placed in LA care compared with non-FDAC care proceedings (28.6% versus 54.7%).
• The positive outcomes for cases supported by FDAC is in line with the evidence on FDAC in the WWCSC’s Evidence Store and the literature base.

For complete report