On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Critically analyse state and community responses to child abuse
2. Identify the ideologies and theories underpinning different definitions of child abuse
3. Recognise the impact of social and cultural factors in shaping social discourses about children and their families, including gender relations, power relationships between children and adults and the position of children within families
4. Demonstrate critical understanding of intervention and prevention strategies within Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander communities
5. Examine the impact on children of child abuse interventions and prevention programs
6. Demonstrate an understanding of the skills required for working directly with children in abusive situations

1. Theoretical and ideological frameworks for understanding Child Abuse
2. The construction of Childhood
3. Competing cultural and social definitions of childhood
4. Power relationships between adults and children and between children and the state
5. Construction of child abuse as a social problem
6. The position of children particularly in relation to child protection
7. Roles of key stakeholders including agencies, families, communities, the state and children
8. Skills in working with children
9. Role of the legal system in child protection
10. Intervention strategies including out-of-home care
11. Prevention and early intervention with a particular focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities