Opportunities for Early, Child-Centred Responses to DFV to Prevent Suicidality in Young People
Tracks
Ballroom 1: In-Person & Online
| Wednesday, November 25, 2026 |
| 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM |
| Ballroom 1 |
Overview
Silke Meyer, Griffith University
Three Key Learnings
1. Insights into the service system visibility of young people affected by DFV who die by suicide.
2. Understanding opportunities for early interventions that recognise and respond to children experiencing DFV as victim-survivors in their own right.
3. Understanding the importance of recognising the need for visibility and support of households affected by DFV where children reside, at least part of the time.
Speaker
Professor Silke Meyer
Leneen Forde Chair In Child & Family Research
Griffith University
Opportunities for early, child-centred responses to DFV to prevent suicidality in young people
Presentation Overview
Childhood experiences of domestic and family violence (CEDFV) are a significant contributing factor to a range of adverse outcomes in later life. As a result, children are increasingly being recognised as victim-survivors in their own right, with their own unique support and recovery needs. This presentation draws on a small sample of young people (<18 years) who died by suicide in Queensland in 2020/2021. We examined their own and their families service system contact related to DFV through coronial and police records. The aim of this project was to identify when children and families affected by DFV are visible to different service systems to identify opportunities for early child-centred interventions that provide opportunities for recovery support. Findings identify that children with CEDFV who die by suicide tend to have multiple points of visibility to the service system throughout childhood and/or adolescence. For 6 of the 12 young people, this visibility began during preschool ages, and for many, visibility to the service system was repetitive. These observations highlight opportunities for a greater recognition of children experiencing parental/carer DFV as victim-survivors in their own right, with their own unique support and recovery needs. Specifically, the multiple points of service system contact identify opportunities for holistic and timely child-centred interventions to support mental wellbeing and recovery. Finally, findings identify ongoing service system contact round DFV for some families, raising implications for the support and recovery needs of siblings remaining in the family home after a young person dies by suicide.
Biography
Silke Meyer is a criminologist and social worker by training, bringing practical and theoretical expertise to her research, teaching and writing. In her current role, she leads a program of child and family centred research, examining the role of childhood experiences of domestic and family violence in later life outcomes, opportunities for whole of family interventions around domestic and family violence in statutory and non-statutory child and family welfare services, the impact of coercive control on children and the role of domestic and family violence informed practice responses in child protection, policing and family law matters.