children and young people

As someone who researches, writes, and advocates in this space, I cannot ignore how far these reforms drift from what we know works, what fairness demands, and what Australia has committed to uphold under international law. Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. That requires more than symbolic […]

To mark the release of a landmark new study, Matt Tyler, Executive Director of the Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services, and Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, an international expert in domestic and family violence, addressed the National Press Club on 6 November 2025 to officially launch the Adolescent Man Box Report. Released today by Jesuit Social […]

Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University Child safety and wellbeing is never far from the headlines, and no more so than recently, with shocking allegations of child sexual abuse in childcare centres. These revelations have sparked much-needed national conversations about how we can better protect children. They have also exposed how fragmented and reactive Australia’s approach to […]

Along with Matt Tyler, Executive Director of The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services, Principal Consultant Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon co-authored an op-ed for ABC. There is a contradiction at the heart of Australian government policy that is directly harming our most vulnerable children and young people.  Federal and state governments across the country are committed […]

Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University In Australia, there is growing recognition that children and young people are not just witnesses to domestic, family and sexual violence, but victim-survivors in their own right. While we are getting better at understanding how coercive control operates in adult relationships – particularly where men use it against women – much […]

I recently had the tremendous honour of being part of the launch of ‘The Kids Who Have Been Through This – stories from children who have experienced homelessness and domestic violence’ The Together 4 Kids (T4K) Book Club brought together children and parents of toddlers and babies to write and illustrate a children’s story about their […]

Steven Roberts, Monash University; Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University, and Rebecca Stewart, Monash University Every school around Australia is almost certain to have students who are victim-survivors of family and domestic violence. The 2023 Australian Child Maltreatment Study found neglect and physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children is widespread. Among Australians aged 16–65 years, 32% […]

9 years ago today Dr Wendy O’Brien and I wrote an article for The Conversation highlighting the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence finding that children are the ‘silent victims’ of family violence. 📚 At the time we overviewed the Royal Commission’s findings that as a legacy of limited or incomplete data-gathering, siloed responses, and […]

In today’s Herald Sun newspaper (page 21), Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon and Victorian Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan urge the government to invest significantly and urgently to improve whole of system responses to children who experience domestic and family violence. Source: Herald Sun, 27 February 2025. What has Australia learned since the horrific […]

Today is the United Nations World Children’s Day. 20 November marks the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is also the date in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This year UNICEF Australia are encouraging everyone […]

Hayley Boxall, Australian National University; Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University, and Silke Meyer, Griffith University Domestic and family violence (DFV) has received increasing attention in recent years. It is most commonly associated with intimate partner violence between current and former partners, followed by abuse perpetrated against children by their parents and carers. But what about sibling […]

I am extremely grateful to Monash University Publishing for the opportunity to write another book as part of their In the National Interest, building on my earlier contribution to this series. 📌 Violence against women and children is a national crisis. Nearly a decade has passed since family violence was first declared a national emergency […]

Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon has co-authored an article published this week in Child Protection and Practice with Professor Silke Meyer (Griffith University) and María Atiénzar-Prieto. Drawing on their ANROWS funded survey of over 5,000 young people in Australia, the article examines children’s experiences of family violence and the role of different types of child maltreatment on […]

In today’s The Saturday Paper Rosie Batty and Principal Consultant, Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon, argue it is unfathomable that children are still repeatedly falling off policy agendas relating to domestic, family & sexual violence. The status quo is unacceptable for the current generation, & the next generation deserves better. There is still no one in Canberra with […]