CURRENT ISSUES IN CHILD PROTECTION

Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs

Photo by Tricia Watkinson, The Advertiser

Date: Thursday, 23 May 2013 Venue: Cairns A21.002 Townsville (videolink) Audio Visual Services room 001 (9-001) Time: 12.00 noon – 12:50 pm Cost: Free

The issues to be discussed: . Juveniles who sexually abuse others . Young children who exhibit inappropriate sexual behaviours . The failure of the criminal justice and family court systems to protect young children from sexual abuse, especially victims of incest . The Royal Commission and the three current parliamentary inquiries.

Current Issues in Child Protection

About the Presenter:

Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs AO, humanitarian and child protection expert, is a researcher and lecturer in sociology, child protection and family studies for the University of South Australia.

Freda has been a child protection officer with London's Metropolitan Police, a social worker, educator, author, scholar and consultant to governments. Through her dedication and passion she has worked towards a vision to provide a safer and more caring world for children. As Dean of Early Childhood and Family Studies in South Australia she introduced the world's first multi- professional course in child protection. Her international work with abused, neglected and disadvantaged children and their families has made her the recipient of many awards such as the Inaugural Australian Humanitarian Award, the ANZAC Fellowship Award, the Jean Denton Memorial Fellowship, the Creswick Fellowship Award, and citations from Rotary International, New Zealand Police and many more.

In 2000, Freda was a recipient of the Senior Australian of the Year award. Her expertise has seen her consulted by the World Health Organization on programs to protect children from violence. She has also been a consultant for the New Zealand Police, Department of Education in Australia, Anglicare and UNICEF, and she has been a member of numerous state and federal government committees and working parties including the PM and Cabinet’s working party into the protection of children with disabilities, the state working party into alternatives to foster care, and the state child sex abuse taskforce.

Enquiries: [email protected] Phone: (07) 4042 1887