In 1999, the National Child Protection Clearinghouse, with the support of the National Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, and the State and Territory government departments, undertook a National Audit of Child Abuse Prevention Programs operating across Australia. The National Audit is part of a strategy to reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect throughout Australia and was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, through the National Clearinghouse. The intention was to provide an overview of child abuse prevention initiatives currently being undertaken nationally, to identify trends and any gaps in service provision, to identify programs from which service providers can learn, and thus avoid 'reinventing the wheel' with regard to program development, and to generate discussion of future directions in child abuse prevention. In this report an analysis of the results of the Audit is presented. Specifically, within a context of current government policies, the range and scope of child abuse prevention programs currently operating in Australia are identified and described, as are the types of groups or organisations involved in operating these programs. Finally, a number of trends in service provision are highlighted, with reference to previous Clearinghouse audits, and a number of recommendations are made with regard to future directions in the development of prevention programs. From introduction.

at