Findings of unacceptable risk – A comment on Webb et al.'s analysis of child sexual abuse allegations in the Family Court of Australia

Webb et al.'s study of Family Court judgements involving allegations of child sexual abuse has yielded much valuable statistical data. It demonstrates that only 12 per cent of fully contested cases where an allegation of sexual abuse is made result in a finding that a child is exposed to an unacceptable risk of sexual abuse. This commentary seeks to explain this low percentage by reference to the cohort of cases that fall for judicial determination in the Family Court. The fully contested cases are disproportionately those in which police, child protection department staff or independent evaluators have been unable to reach a clear view. Typically, these cases involve children under 7 years old. The Family Court is the “too hard basket” of the child protection system, and so the low level of findings of unacceptable risk is not necessarily indicative of systemic failure.