There is a significant gap in the literature about child abuse and neglect in culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) communities from the Muslim faith in Australia, their experiences of child protection systems, what is working well and where their needs are not being met.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many community organisations and Muslim faith leaders across Australia are increasingly presented with narratives about Muslim refugee families being referred to the Child Protection.

Anecdotal narratives from community engagement by the author highlights that many refugee families that find themselves within the child protection system, have often worked hard to keep their families safe (e.g. against child rape) and connected in refuge camps prior to migrating to Australia under humanitarian provisions. There is insufficient research evidence on what factors lead these families to fall under the scrutiny of child protection services. Due to the lack of evidence, it is unclear if the child protection systems in place further alienate and isolate a group of people that are already marginalised due to barriers such as language, clash of cultures, differing parenting perspectives, among others.

The lack of trust that the Australian Muslim community has for government bodies further hinders appropriate service provision. Building their capacity for workable co-designed solutions in the future has the potential to enable their participation and integration into community which is part of transformative solutions when addressing domestic violence.

This paper presents the current knowledge about child abuse and neglect within the CaLD Muslim community in Australia to identify the needs of vulnerable CaLD Muslim children. It also presents how Islamic teachings about the protection of children can potentially inform public policy, community development, and social and economic outcomes on child abuse and neglect.