An 18-month research project will identify gaps that need addressing to improve our understanding about the impact of domestic and family violence (DFV) experiences on children and young people with disabilities.

The project has received funding as part of the 2020-2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program compromising eight projects that collectively address research gaps regarding children and young people exposed to violence against women.

Project lead Professor Sally Robinson, Professor in Disability and Community Inclusion at Flinders University and lead of the Caring Futures Institute’s Better Communities theme, aims to scope and map current data on the national prevalence of children and young people with disability (CYPWD) experiencing DFV, in order to identify gaps, limitations and the mapping of new intersections unique to the population.

With a lack of data analysis on violence and disability limiting evidence available to inform government policy, the research will develop a new understanding of support and service needs, priorities, and perspectives of CYPWD experiencing DFV, as well as system barriers and enablers.

The data will also outline steps to bring services into better alignment with CYPWD’s priorities.

The research team, which includes experts at Flinders, UniSA and UNSW, is undertaking the project to address one of the evidence gaps of the 2020 interim report of the Royal Commission into violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of people with disability from national data collections.

The report concluded there is an omission of people with disability from national data collections and a lack of analysis of data on violence and disability, and therefore limited evidence to inform government.