Promoting the Safety and Well-being of Children, Young People and Families

The Alfred Felton Research Program is committed to applied research in the areas of domestic and family violence, out of home care, and the impact of changes brought about by new legislation for children, youth and families. It constitutes the two research areas:

• Children and Young People, and
• Domestic and Family Violence

Its central vision is to develop research and "research into action" initiatives for the immediate benefit of vulnerable children, their families and the organisations that serve them. The program was established by Social Work at the University of Melbourne in 2006, with the inaugural appointment of Professor Cathy Humphreys as the Alfred Felton Chair. The group works closely with Victorian organisations and institutions including the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, the Royal Children's Hospital, the Department of Human Services and the Office of Women's Policy as it develops these "research into action" initiatives.

Research Objectives              

The main objectives of the Alfred Felton Research Program are to:

• Improve the well-being of vulnerable children, young people and their families through the development of relevant knowledge to inform policy and practice.
• Support the development of research-informed practice in the family and domestic violence sector.
• Build the research capacity of community service organisations through the development of research projects of relevance to the sector.
• Develop a 'research into action' project that focuses on the dissemination and implementation of current research knowledge that contributes to policy and practice.
• Contribute to the development of knowledge that recognises and respects diversity across communities, cultures, gender, class, age, sexuality and different abilities. In particular the issues for indigenous communities, children and families are acknowledged and developed wherever possible.
• Recognise that sources of knowledge are diverse and that empirical research needs to both draw on and develop work with practitioners, policy workers and consumers/service users and community members as equal partners in the development of relevant knowledge for practice and policy.
• Contribute to innovative agendas in child and family welfare and family violence that stimulate innovative developments to progress policy and practice.
• Develop a program that addresses issues that are relevant locally, nationally and internationally.

Post Graduate Students

Current

Julie Hall- Families experience of keeping children healthy: A study of non-attending patient families in out-patient general paediatric clinics of a children's hospital.

Rhonda Johns- Child Neglect: building a child and family intervention model from theory, research and practice.

Anita Morris- To be confirmed.

Joanie Smith- Consequences and Accountability in Men's Behaviour Change.

Nicole Tokatlian - The CAP@H project (Children and Parents @ Hospital: partnerships in health and wellbeing) will trial and evaluate an enhanced model of interdisciplinary assessment, family case-conferencing and decision-making for vulnerable children and families within an acute paediatric health setting.  In addition, the project will explore health professionals’ understanding of the concept of cumulative harm, which has recently been enshrined in Victorian legalisation.

Menka Tsantevski- Holding the mother holding the baby: The provision of psycho social support to substance dependent women in the first year of the infant’s life

Karen White- Listening to Boys: An approach to developing Child and Family centred practice.

(Completed - Christine Barrett, Jennifer Duffield, Dr Philip Gillingham, Michelle Meyer,Dr Devaki Monani)