ADVOCATING FOR EVIDENCE-BASED PARENTING AND FAMILY SUPPORT IN POLICY REFORM: THE AUSTRALIAN YOUTH JUSTICE ACTION CIRCLE
Ms Sarah Little and Dr Carys Chainey
March 12, 2025
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Australia’s youth justice system faces critical challenges, with an over-reliance on punitive measures that fail to address the root causes of youth crime. Rather than facilitating rehabilitation, this approach often exacerbates cycles of disadvantage, disproportionately affecting vulnerable young people and raising concerns about human rights.
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The Australian Youth Justice Action Circle, convened under the Parenting and Family Research Alliance (PAFRA), is a collective of multidisciplinary academics working in crime prevention, public health, child development, and economics. The focus of this Action Circle is to highlight the importance of an evidence-based response to reducing youth offending and reoffending, focusing on parenting, family support and community. Its recent submission to the Australian Senate inquiry on Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system highlights the urgent need for proactive, cost-effective interventions that provide support to young people and their families to prevent contact with the justice system.
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This seminar will examine the policy recommendations, and practical strategies for shifting from punitive responses to a holistic framework with a focus on building a more effective and just system that upholds human rights and that prioritises support, rehabilitation, and community safety.
About the presenter
Dr Carys Chainey is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Parenting and Family Research Centre at The University of Queensland, and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families Over the Life Course. Her research focuses on the links between adverse childhood experiences, parenting, and wellbeing, across the life course and across generations. She is an accredited facilitator of the Triple P Positive Parenting Program, and is leading trials of Family Life Skills Triple P, a new intervention supporting caregivers affected by adversity. Dr Chainey is operations manager of the Parenting and Family Research Alliance, and co-chair of the International Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support 2025 Organising Committee.
About the presenter
Ms Sarah Little holds a BSc Honours in Psychology from the University of Queensland. She co-facilitates the Australian Youth Justice Action Circle and is a member of the Parenting and Family Research Alliance. She works closely with women and children within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities impacted by domestic and family violence to navigate safety and social disadvantage. Her research interests are harsh parenting practices, adverse childhood experiences and improving access to evidence-based patenting support to minority and disadvantaged demographics.