Young People At Risk Report
15 November 2012 at 9:04 am
| A new AIHW report finds links between social inclusion and issues of child abuse and homelessness. |
A new report into children and young people at risk of social exclusion has found links between child abuse and neglect, homelessness and juvenile crime.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report looked at the links between homelessness, child protection and juvenile justice, and young people who had a substantiated child protection notification, completed juvenile justice supervision, or received homelessness services in Tasmania and Victoria.
The report found that almost 15% of young people under juvenile justice supervision had been homeless in the year before their most recent supervision, and 8% in the year after.
And 6% of those with a substantiated child protection notification had been homeless before notification and 7% after, compared with about 1% of young people aged 10 years and older in the general population.
Among those who completed juvenile justice supervision, 7% of young non-Indigenous men and 6% of young Indigenous men received homelessness support within a year.
Young women are at an even greater risk, with 16% of young non-Indigenous women and 15% of young Indigenous women receiving homelessness support within a year of leaving supervision.
About 1-2% of people in the general population receive homelessness services in a year.
The report also shows that almost 10% of those who were supervised in the juvenile justice system had at least one substantiated child protection notification.
The AIHW is a major national agency set up by the Australian Government to provide reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on Australia's health and welfare.
Full publication: Children and young people at risk of social exclusion: links between homelessness, child protection and juvenile justice
