Staff Profile

Dr Daryl Higgins
Deputy Director (Research)

BA (Melb), BA(Hons) (Deakin), PhD (Deakin)

Biography

Dr Daryl Higgins is the Deputy Director (Research) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, where he has responsibility for a wide-range of research, evaluation and dissemination projects focusing on policy- and practice-relevant issues. He is a registered psychologist, and has been researching child abuse, family violence, sexuality and family functioning since 1993. He has extensive experience in managing and supervising research, and has led projects looking at children in out-of-home care, child-safe organisations, Family Court processes for responding to allegations of child abuse, caring for a family member with a disability, welfare reform, jobless families, past adoption practices, and community development approaches to children at risk in Indigenous communities. He has a sound knowledge of state and territory policy contexts across Australia. He has considerable experience in evaluation methodology and frameworks across areas including child protection, out-of-home care, sexual assault, child care, parenting, care for family members with a disability, and family and community wellbeing.

Dr Higgins also has experience in conducting qualitative research and program evaluations with Indigenous communities, as well as understanding and analysing and interpreting quantitative administrative data (such as child protection departmental statistics relating to Indigenous Australians). In particular Daryl has led projects examining best-practice in Indigenous out-of-home care, and a range of community development projects focusing on early childhood, young people, and education engagement/mentoring for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. He is currently leading AIFS' contributions to the 'Closing the Gap Clearinghouse' - a research dissemination unit, run in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, focused on identifying and communicating key findings from research evidence about what works to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage in relation to the seven building blocks identified by the Council of Australian Governments - early childhood, schooling, health, employment, housing, community safety, and governance/leadership.

Specialist areas

• "Multi-type maltreatment" and the overlap between occurrence of various types of child abuse and neglect
• Family relationships, family functioning, and family support services
• Statutory child protection systems
• Child abuse prevention
• Impact--and therapeutic responses to--child maltreatment and adult sexual assault (including Complex PTSD)
• Caring for family members with a disability
• Community development strategies for protecting children
• Jobless families and disadvantaged communities
• Preventing and responding to sexual assault

Selected recent publications

• Hand, K., Gray, M., Higgins, D., Lohoar, S. and Deblaquiere, J. (2011), Life around here: Community, work and family life in three Australian communities, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies
• Higgins, D. J. (2011). Current trauma: The impact of adoption practices up to the early 1970s. Family Relationships Quarterly, 19, 6-9.
• Higgins, D. J. (2011). Unfit mothers...unjust practices? Key issues from Australian research on the impact of past adoption practices. Family Matters 87, 56-67.
• Higgins, D. J., & Kaspiew, R. (2011). Child protection and family law… Joining the dots (NCPC Issues 34). Melbourne: National Child Protection Clearinghouse at the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Scott, D., & Higgins, D., (2011). Supporting families (Chapter 7). In Northern Territory Emergency Response Evaluation Report 2011 (pp. 245-291). Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
• Stewart, J., Lohoar, S., & Higgins, D. J. (2011). Effective practices for service delivery coordination in Indigenous communities. (PDF 1.3MB) Closing the Gap Clearinghouse Resource Sheet. Canberra: Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare / Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Humphreys, C., Holzer, P., Scott, D., Arney, F., Bromfield, L., Higgins, D., & Lewig, K. (2010). The planets aligned: Is child protection policy reform good luck or good management? Australian Social Work, 63(2), 145-163.
• Higgins, D. J. (2010). Sexuality, human rights and safety for people with disabilities: the challenge of intersecting identities. Sexual and Relationship Therapy v. 25 no. 3, pp 245-257.
• Higgins, D. J. (2010). Community development approaches to safety and wellbeing of Indigenous children (Resource Sheet No. 1). Canberra: Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Higgins, D. J. (2010). Impact of past adoption practices: Summary of key issues from Australian research. Australian Journal of Adoption 2(2).
• Higgins, D. J. (2010). "Sex, Lies and Videotapes": Gathering and assessing evidence of child abuse in family law cases. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 17(3), 398-411.
• Higgins, D. J. (2010, March; updated April). Impact of past adoption practices: Summary of key issues from Australian research. (Final Report to the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Edwards, B., & Higgins, D. J. (2009). Is caring a health hazard? The mental health and vitality of carers of a person with a disability in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia. 190(7), S61-S65.
• Higgins, D. J. & Katz, I. (2008). Enhancing service systems for protecting children: Promoting child wellbeing and child protection reform in Australia. Family Matters, 80, 43-50.
• Higgins, D. J., & Kaspiew, R. (2008). ‘Mind the gap...’: Protecting children in family law cases. Australian Journal of Family Law, 22(3), 235-258.
• Connor, P. K., & Higgins, D. J.  (2008). The ‘HEALTH’ Model – Part 2: The ‘HEALTH’ Model – Part 2: Case study of a guideline-based treatment program for Complex PTSD relating to childhood sexual abuse. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 23(4), 401-410.
• Connor, P. K., & Higgins, D. J.  (2008). The ‘HEALTH’ Model – Part 1: Treatment program guidelines for Complex PTSD. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 23(4), 293-303.
• Higgins, D. J. (2008). Sexual and relational wellbeing: Diversity and commonality. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 23(1), 109-110.
• Edwards, B., Higgins, D. J., Gray, M., Zmijewski, N., & Kingston, M. (2008). The nature and impact of caring for family members with a disability in Australia (AIFS Research Report No. 16). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Higgins, D. J.(2007). Cooperation and Coordination: An evaluation of the Family Court of Australia’s Magellan case-management model. Canberra: Family Court of Australia.
• Higgins, D. J. (2007). Magellan Project evaluation 2006-2007: A brief overview of methodology. Family Matters, 77, 40.
• Bromfield, L. M., Gillingham, P., & Higgins, D. J. (2007). Cumulative harm and chronic child maltreatment. Developing Practice, 19, 34-42.
• Higgins, D. J. (2007). Families Caring: Diverse care-work of families in Australia. Family Matters, 76, 4-7.
• Edwards, B., Higgins, D. J., & Zmijewski, N. (2007). The Families Caring for a Person with a Disability Study and the social lives of carers. Family Matters, 76, 8-17.
• Burchill, M., Higgins, D. J., Ramsamy, L, & Taylor, S. (2006). "Workin' together": Indigenous perspectives on community development. Family Matters, 75, 50-59.
• Higgins, D. J., Bromfield, L. M., Higgins, J. R., & Richardson, N. (2006). Protecting Indigenous children: Views of carers and young people on "out-of-home care". Family Matters, 75, 42-49.
• Irenyi, M., Bromfield, L., Beyer, L., & Higgins, D. (2006). Child maltreatment in organisations: Risk factors and strategies for prevention (Child Abuse Prevention Issues No. 25). Melbourne: National Child Protection Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Hayes, A., Weston, R., Gray, M., Qu, L., Higgins, D., Hand, K, & Soriano, G. (2006). Family relationships through life: An illustration of the Australian Institute of Family Studies' Research Plan (2006-2008). Family Matters, 73, 4-12.
• Cashmore, J. A., Higgins, D. J., Bromfield, L. M.,  & Scott, D. A. (2006). Recent Australian child protection and out-of-home care research: What's been done - and what needs to be done? Children Australia, 31(2), 4-11.
• Holzer, P. J., Higgins, J., Bromfield, L. M., Richardson, N., & Higgins, D. J. (2006). The effectiveness of parent education and home visiting child maltreatment prevention programs (Child Abuse Prevention Issues No. 24). Melbourne: National Child Protection Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Family Studies.