Investigators: Fernando Lima, Melissa O'Donnell, Miriam Maclean
While infants constitute an increasing proportion of children in out-of-home care (OOHC), research regarding the developmental, health and social outcomes for these children is limited. This means that decision-making is not as evidence-based as would be expected, given the seriousness of the consequence – removals of infants from their parents’ care. This project will increase our knowledge about the lives of infants entering the care system and how we might better intervene to improve outcomes.
This project aims to answer the following research questions:
- What are the developmental needs of infants entering care and how can the system be optimised to meet them?
- What are the care pathways and outcomes for infants and what factors predict them?
Expected benefits will be improved decision-making in relation to infants at risk and recommendations about better supports to improve outcomes for infants.