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Australian governments fund many place‐based collective impact initiatives like Communities for Children (CfC); states fund family support services to keep at‐risk children out of the child protection system; and schools implement many extracurricular programmes. Do these services have a beneficial, cost‐effective collective impact on child well‐being? This paper describes a proof‐of‐concept attempt to address this question by linking for one CfC community individual‐level data on 5‐ to 12‐year‐old participation in programmes delivered through these three sectors with child outcomes. This exercise was unsuccessful despite the investigators’ prior experience; advice from a data linkage expert and our data custodian partners; five ARC reviews; partners’ good will; and ethical safeguards including written, informed parent/carer consent. Obstacles encountered included a lack of data of sufficient quality on children and families’ participation in services, lack of data on children’s outcomes, and prohibitive costs of linkages within government. We offer for others three key lessons: (1) make assumptions explicit; (2) talk to technical experts in data custodian organisations early in the planning process; and (3) undertake, if possible, an initial scoping exercise. We conclude that despite recent legislative and policy reforms many obstacles we encountered will persist in the absence of a national child well‐being strategy.

The assessment of self-regulation in children is of significant interest to researchers within education, clinical and developmental psychology, and clinical neuroscience, given its importance to adaptive functioning across a wide range of social, educational, interpersonal, educational and health domains. Because self-regulation is a complex, multidimensional construct, a range of assessment approaches have been developed to assess its various components including behavioural, cognitive and emotional domains. In recent years, digital technology has been increasingly used to enhance or supplement existing measurement approaches; however, developments have predominantly focused on translating traditional testing paradigms into digital formats. There is a need for more innovation in digital psychological assessments that harness modern mechanisms such as game-based design and interactivity. Such approaches have potential for the development of scalable, adaptable universal approaches to screening and assessment of children's self-regulatory capabilities, to facilitate early identification of difficulties in individuals and also guide planning and decision-making at a population level. We highlight a novel, innovative digital assessment tool for children called Rumble's Quest, a new measure of children's socio-emotional functioning that shows promise as an integrative assessment of well-being and self-regulation, and which incorporates both self-report and direct assessment of cognitive self-regulation. This tool is scalable, can be integrated into normal classroom activities, and forms part of a comprehensive prevention support system that can be used to guide stakeholders' decision-making regarding early intervention and support at the individual, classroom, school and community level. We finish by discussing other innovative possibilities for psychological assessment with children, using new and emerging technologies and assessment approaches.

Developmental crime prevention is founded on the long-term outcomes and economic efficiency of about 50 promising or model programs for fostering healthy child and youth development and for preventing crime. However, few if any of these programs have been successfully implemented on a large scale, a problem that is the focus of Type 2 (T2) Translation Research within prevention science. This paper describes one approach to building capacity for population-level community-based developmental prevention using the CREATE model that we developed as an outcome of the Pathways to Prevention Project that operated in a disadvantaged region of Brisbane between 2002 and 2011. CREATE is an acronym: Collaborative; Relationships-driven; Early in the pathway; Accountable; Training-focused; Evidence-driven. CREATE is being used to develop, in T2 Translation terms, a prevention support system (PSS) for the Communities for Children (CfC) program, a prevention delivery system that is operated by the Department of Social Services in 52 communities across Australia. The aim is to build the capacity for schools and community agencies to transcend system silos; foster ethical practices and respectful relationships; and deliver goal-directed, quantitatively evaluated, evidence-based resources that address the needs of families with complex needs, promote child wellbeing and prevent antisocial and criminal behaviours. The PSS combines web-based interactive electronic resources for schools and community agencies serving children in CfC communities with systems and processes established by project personnel called Collective Impact Facilitators who build the skills and knowledge of community coalitions to use the electronic resources and implement CREATE effectively. This capacity building exercise is being evaluated through a comprehensive array of pre- and post-measures of coalition functioning. The PSS integrates with national prevention infrastructure developed by DSS, including a Data Exchange System, an Expert Panel, and an Information Exchange. Keywords: Juvenile justice; Language: en

Paternal imprisonment creates a significant risk for the intergenerational transmission of offending. However, there is little research on the mechanisms underpinning this risk, including how paternal imprisonment interrupts parenting and father-child relationships. Culturally relevant research is also essential in the context of high imprisonment rates of Indigenous Australian men. We conducted interviews with 41 Indigenous Australian fathers from two prisons in North Queensland to examine their identities as fathers in prison and the barriers associated with maintaining relationships with their children. Findings are discussed in relation to contact and distance; intergenerational absence of fathers; paternal involvement through play, care and culture; and diminished opportunities for men's parental and cultural generativity. We consider the implications of the findings for children's well-being.

This article describes the development, validity, and reliability of the Parent Empowerment and Efficacy Measure (PEEM). Development was guided by theory and by challenges faced by Pathways to Prevention family support staff who required a short, practical, and reliable measure of parent empowerment. The measure's psychometric properties were tested using data from 866 parents of children aged 5 to 12, living in high to low socioeconomic status areas. Principal factor analysis revealed a strong general dimension with high internal consistency (α = 0.92) that correlated at 0.60 or more with three validation measures, as well as the existence of two hypothesised subfactors (correlated at 0.78): efficacy to parent and efficacy to connect, each with internal consistencies of 0.85+. Test–retest reliability (n = 200) was 0.84. PEEM exhibits excellent convergent and concurrent validity and is a reliable tool for use in planning services, monitoring participant progress, and evaluating program effectiveness.

In Australia, data are not routinely collected on the parental status of prisoners, so there are no official nationwide figures and few State‑based figures. The current study uses data collected in Queensland over a six‑month period to estimate how many Queensland children, in one year and in their entire childhood, experience paternal imprisonment. Additional data were collected relating to the provision of care for the child prior to, and during, their father's imprisonment. Participants were 303 imprisoned fathers (51 per cent of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin) who reported a total of 753 children. Using these data and population statistics, it was estimated that 0.8 per cent of children in Queensland experienced paternal imprisonment in one year while approximately four per cent experience paternal imprisonment in their lifetime. Indigenous children were nine times more likely to experience paternal imprisonment in one year and four times more likely to experience paternal imprisonment in their lifetime compared to non‑Indigenous children. Approximately half of the children (48 per cent) lived with their father prior to his imprisonment. Results are discussed in relation to whether children were living with their father as well as the possibility of pre-existing risks in children's lives that may subsequently interact with their father's imprisonment.

In this chapter, we argue that to achieve sustained reductions in crime, violence, or injuries on a large scale, it is necessary to transform prevention delivery systems so that they conform in their practices, on a continuing basis, with scientific evidence. We explain and defend our proposition, drawing on examples and case studies from our own research and that of others. Although we highlight two very successful innovations (random breath testing in Australia and the Evidence-based Prevention and Intervention Support Center (EPISCenter) in Pennsylvania), we take the view that failures are as instructive as successes and include some brief examples of the former in our discussion. We also touch upon some of the lessons about Type 2 Translation from crime prevention initiatives that have been designed and implemented on the basis of contrasting theoretical models and empirical methods, including criminal justice approaches, situational initiatives, and community-based developmental interventions.

Pathways to Prevention is an early prevention project founded on developmental systems theory operating through a schoolscommunity agency-university partnership in a socially disadvantaged area of Brisbane. Circles of Care is a Pathways programme also implemented on a small scale by the same agency in a regional city. The Circles programme is designed to strengthen connections between schools, families and community services, and harmonize activities in these settings by surrounding children with identified needs with a supportive group of adults. A Circle, which includes at least the child, parent(s), teacher and agency staff, sets goals, mobilizes resources for the child, family and school, and monitors progress. The client is conceptualized not as the child but as a dysfunctional developmental system, with better outcomes for children as the ultimate goal. Qualitative evaluation at the two sites showed that while Circles worked well at the level of practical support and relationship building and did achieve good child outcomes, its capacity to achieve collaborative practice and strengthen system relations was limited by entrenched organizational structures and cultures. However, one site, with more support for collaboration across organizational boundaries, suggested that system alignment is achievable on a larger scale with vision and leadership for organizational reform.

Researchers have hypothesized four levels of instructional dialogue and claimed that teachers can improve children's language development by incorporating these dialogue levels in their classrooms. It has also been hypothesized that enhancing children's early language development enhances children's later reading development. This quasi-experimental research study investigated both of these hypotheses using a collaborative service delivery model for Grade 1 children with language difficulties from a socially and economically disadvantaged urban community in Australia. Comparing the end-of-year reading achievement scores for the 57 children who received the language intervention with those of the 59 children in the comparison group, the findings from this research are supportive of both hypotheses. The interrelationships between learning difficulties, reading difficulties, and language difficulties are discussed along with children's development in vocabulary, use of memory strategies and verbal reasoning, and the need for multidimensional programming.

This study describes how an auditory looming technique was used to investigate 4-to 6-month-old infants’ sensitivity to sound pressure level (SPL) as an auditory distance cue. Thirty-two infants were tested in complete darkness and presented with auditory stimuli that underwent unidirectional variations in SPL (40–70dB). The rate at which SPL was varied during the course of trials (past vs. slow) was manipulated by varying trial length (5s vs. 10s). During stimulus presentation, measures were taken of the amount of backward body pressure infants exerted in response to increasing SPL trials (i.e. illusory approach) compared to decreasing SPL trials (i.e. illusory recede). Analysis of the pattern of backward body movements made during the course of experimental trials support the argument that infants responded to the directionally specific spatial information afforded by changing SPL. Avoidance behaviour was associated with SPL increase but not SPL decrease conditions. However, within the SPL increase condition infants engaged in more defensive leaning back in fast change trials compared to slow change trials. The overall pattern of results indicates that under certain conditions infants detect information for changing object distance primarily on the basis of SPL variation.

Colour and facial configuration are both very salient aspects of the visual environment for infants, but may both be selectively processed by the right hemisphere (RHS) and under some conditions may compete for RHS resources. The present investigation assessed the relative potency of facial configuration and colour in the two halves of the visual field for 32 infants (with a mean age of 24 weeks). The infants were familiarized to triads of facial figures presented for 250 ms in the left or right visual field. The faces were all different in colour and facial pattern (expression), but one of them (the target) was shown in an upright orientation while the others (distractors) were inverted. The results of paired-comparison recognition tests indicated that the displays had been initially parsed in terms of configurational category (upright faces versus inverted non-faces) in both visual fields, attesting to the primacy of this categorical distinction in both hemispheres. However, the focus for subsequent encoding reflected marked hemispheric discrepancies, with a left visual field (RHS) bias to target colour (comprising the first evidence of this for infants) and a contrary right visual field [left hemisphere (LHS)] advantage for distractor pattern. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The way in which infants remember the hue of a stimulus over time was assessed by testing 32 infants (mean age = 19.6 weeks) in a “paired comparisons” procedure. The infants were familiarised to one hue and then presented either immediately or after a 5-min delay with two tests on which the familiar hue was paired with a novel hue either from the same category or a new category. The infants in both delay groups showed a significant preference for the latter whereas only those in the immediate-test group showed a significant preference for the former. The results suggest that infants are capable of remembering more than the general category of a hue but after a delay may only remember hue in these terms.

Infants were familiarized to one stimulus fora brief period of time and then presented with two test trials on which the familiar stimulus was paired with a stimulus novel in colour or one novel in shape. A significant preference for the novel stimulus was only evident in the former test, with this outcome being independent of the “categorical clarity” of the familiar colour. The findings indicate differential encoding rates for colour and shape for these stimuli and suggest a basis for explaining the salience of colour in children's early cognitive processing.

Data were collected from 300 children aged between six and 11 years from a high and a low status area of Sydney. After a year of intensive interviews and group discussions a questionnaire was designed to elicit program preferences, uses found for TV, perception of TV reality and learning provided by television. Results, obtained by discriminant analysis, revealed major differences in the viewing styles of the ABC and the commercial channel viewer, which tended to overlap with socio-economic status differences. Results are discussed within the context that children's TV lobbyists may be unaware of less privileged children's viewing styles.