Online gambling poses unique risks to young people in out-of-home care, as they face heightened vulnerability due to trauma, self-regulation challenges, and limited adult support. Despite recent reforms targeting gambling harm, current protections fail to meet the specific needs of this group. This blog highlights why targeted intervention is crucial to safeguard young people in care from the pervasive lure of online gambling.

In Australia, children and young people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in out-of-home care are at critically greater risk of getting involved with the youth justice system. Over time, involvement in out-of-home care and youth justice can create a pattern of criminalisation, that spirals into a cycle of reoffending and deeper involvement with both systems. Breaking the cycle of FASD recriminalisation means providing early diagnosis, support and intervention.

Although kinship care now represents the majority of out-of-home care placements in Australia, comparatively little attention has been given to the risk factors and protective factors for grandparent carers experiencing secondary trauma. In this blog, researchers highlight the additional risk of secondary trauma to grandparent carers, due to the family crises that led to caring for their grandchildren, managing the conflicting roles of being the child's carer and the child's parent's parents, and the personal connectedness they feel to the specific traumas their grandchildren have experienced.