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Professor Daryl Higgins, James McDougall, Sebastian Trew and Dr Aino Suomi
Australian Government National Mental Health Commission
To identify issues of stigma and advise on how to address stigma for people with mental ill health in family court and child protection processes
People involved in family court or child protection processes who have mental health issues can be subjected to stigma and discrimination. The National Mental Health Commission requested us to undertake a high-level rapid evidence review of the issues relating to their experiences. The purpose of the review was to identify issues and implications for areas where work can be done to address stigma in three domains: self-stigma, public stigma, and structural stigma/discrimination.
We also acknowledge the contributions of Jessica Dickson (Senior Librarian, Australian Catholic University) for assistance with the literature search, as well as Dr Rachel Carson (Senior Research Fellow) and Gillian Lord (Librarian) from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) for identifying relevant AIFS publications.
The review was designed to inform the development of the National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy for the National Mental Health Commission and build a better service system and society for those who experience mental ill health.
Our report is one of many background briefs and research papers commissioned or supported by the Commission. These publications are the evidence base on which the Commission will base its initial thinking to develop the National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy. View all publications, including our report (PDF, 726KB) and the research summary (PDF, 161KB) of our report.
We provided an overview of the family court and child protection systems, and how mental ill health can affect a person's experience and outcomes within these systems. Our report identified areas for possible consideration in addressing stigma and discrimination in these systems, opportunities for broader service improvement, as well as potential topics for further research. Some of the actions we suggested to address stigma and discrimination in child protection and family law systems include:
Read more about the National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy
Higgins, D. (2024). Child safety in a 'systems void': Addressing the gaps and overlaps between family law and child protection systems. In D. Tustin (Ed.), Psycho-legal concepts for parenting in child custody and child protection: Policy principles in Australia, Vol 1, Ch. 10.
Higgins, D., McDougall, J., Trew, S., & Suomi, A. (2021). Experiences of people with mental ill-health involved in family court or child protection processes: A rapid evidence review (PDF, 726KB).. A report to the National Mental Health Commission. Melbourne: Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University. DOI: 10.24268/acu.8w64y
National Mental Health Commission (2022). Research summary: Stigma and discrimination experiences of people with mental ill-health involved in family court or child protection processes (PDF, 161KB). Australian Government, Canberra
Completed 2023
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