New report examines the connections between the youth justice and child protection systems in Australia

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In a recently published report, The Australian Government Institute of Health and Welfare presents the results of its research on young people under youth justice supervision during 2022–23 who had had an interaction with the child protection system in the past 10 years. The report highlights the following data:

  • Almost two-thirds of young people under youth justice supervision during 2022–23 had an interaction with the child protection system in the last 10 years
  • A higher proportion of females than males under youth justice supervision had an interaction with the child protection system
  • The younger a person was when they first entered youth justice supervision, the more likely they were to have had an interaction with the child protection system
  • About 3 in 4 First Nations young people under youth justice supervision had an interaction with the child protection system
  • Almost two-thirds of young people under youth justice supervision during 2022–23 had been the subject of an investigated notification in the last 10 years
  • About 1 in 2 young people under youth justice supervision were the subject of a substantiated notification for any type of abuse
  • Just over a quarter of young people under youth justice supervision during 2022–23 were placed on a care and protection order in the last 10 years
  • About 1 in 4 young people under youth justice supervision had at least one placement in out-of-home care at some point in the last 10 years; of these, about two-thirds had at least one placement in residential care
  • Almost 2 in 5 young people under community-based supervision who had been in out-of-home care had 5 or more placement.