Children should be safe at home but filicide figures tell shock story

One child is killed every fortnight by a parent or step-parent in Australia as the system that’s meant to protect them continues to fail them, according to a leading researcher.

The killing of a child by a parent, step-parent or parental figure is known as filicide.

A total of 138 children were killed by a mother, father or step-parent in Australia between July 2010 and June 2018, according to research from the Australian Domestic and Family

Violence Death Review Network. In Victoria alone, 45 children were killed by a mother, father or step-parent from 2009 to 2020.

Experts say there are many factors that can contribute to filicide, including mental illness, substance abuse, relationship breakdowns and even spousal revenge. A history of domestic

violence has also been identified as a risk factor.

Family violence and child protection researcher Professor Thea Brown, who was recognised in the King’s Birthday 2024 Honours List, said children were the innocent victims of a broken

system.

“Children are not seen or heard,” Prof Brown said. “The service system is failing children badly.”

Prof Brown said deficits in the welfare and mental health system needed to be addressed to ensure that risks to children were identified early.

“Professionals dealing with the families don’t take the children, or the risk to them, into account,” she said. “Our last research showed that the families all had contact with services – three to five agencies – but that the services could not maintain any contact with the perpetrators.

“Those services one would think would be fully involved weren’t, and they let the perpetrators drift from engagement and evade contact.”

Prof Brown said services needed to invest in educating their staff to create more awareness and better models of intervention.

“These families need special intervention models – quick responses, assertive responses, problem-solving responses and longer-term responses,” she said.

A source close to the child protection industry, who did not wish to be named, said parents and step-parents could present a safety risk to children and it was more common than

people realised.

“They (abusers) may come from an abusive background themselves and other times they are in desperate need of help and sadly, for one reason or another, that gets missed,” the source said.

“The results can be truly devastating and have far-reaching consequences, particularly where there are siblings involved.”

Schoolgirl Charlise Mutten is among the innocent victims of family violence. She was allegedly murdered by her stepfather Justin Stein in 2022.

Three young children were also killed in a house fire in Sydney in July 2024 in what police have described as a domestic violence incident.

Radio host Kyle Sandilands recently told listeners of the Kyle and Jackie O Show that his childhood was marred by abuse.

“You’ve got to remember that I was a young child living in a domestic violence situation with my little brother and my mother,” he said.

“My father would kick off. It was horrific. And I can still see that as if it just happened half an hour ago. These things, they don’t leave little minds. They are in your head forever.”

WHERE TO GET HELP

Please call triple-0 in an emergency.

There are a number of professional organisations who help kids and teenagers.

If you need someone to talk to, call or visit:

• Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
• Beyond Blue counsellor on 1300 22 4636 (available 24/7) or chat to a counsellor online at https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support
• ReachOut at au.reachout.com
• Headspace at headspace.org.au
• If you’re not physically safe, a responsible adult in your life can help you report the incident to police.

* The quote in Madison’s original artwork is from author Bell Hooks