Supporting infant and parent attachment for children at risk - the potential for a Specialist Infant Court in Victoria.

About this episode

This episode discusses the challenges of the current child protection system in Victoria and explores the potential for a Specialist Infant Court to support infant and parent attachment.

In Victoria, matters alleging the abuse or neglect of children are heard in the Family Division of the Children’s Court – a specialist court designed to hear child protection matters. However, the Children’s Court is notoriously adversarial. Litigation can be protracted, traumatising for families, and occurs in a system where the prosecuting authority is simultaneously trying to work collaboratively with the family – an uneasy alliance by anyone’s standards. Less adversarial approaches are av...

People in this episode

Hosts: Arna Delle-Vergini, William Wainwright

Topics covered

• child protection
• family law
• infant attachment
• specialist courts
• adversarial system

Keywords

• child abuse
• neglect
• Family Division
• litigation
• trauma
• collaboration

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Children’s Court

Places: Victoria

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• Safe Spaces: Reconnecting Children and Parents · October 2, 2025 · 47 min
• “On the Importance of Being Well at Work” - Wellbeing for Child Protection Workers · September 4, 2025 · 37 min
• Re-thinking Advocacy in the Australian Protection System: Churchill Report on Child Centred Legal Services · July 31, 2025 · 39 min