The Royal Commission has today published a significant piece of work which reflects children and young peoples’ experiences of domestic, family and sexual violence – and highlights where they believe the gaps in support services and systems exist.

The study, led by respected researcher Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon, has urged for whole-of-system reform to ensure children and young people are better recognised, believed and supported as victim-survivors in their own right.

Titled “Silence and Inaction: Children and young people’s experience of violence and systemic failure in South Australia”, it draws on interviews with 53 South Australian children and young people aged 13 - 18 years old.

It details young victim-survivors’ experiences of domestic, family, and sexual violence, their help-seeking journeys as well as their views on the changes needed to strengthen responses and prevent violence against children and young people in South Australia.

The report is one of the many ways the Commission has captured the voices of children and young people, including a Student Summit in November and information from Commissioner for Children and Young People Student Voice Postcards. A Public Hearing on 25 February 2025 also heard evidence about importance of children and young people having a voice. All of these insights and experiences are helping inform the Commission’s final report, due for release next month.

Commissioner Stott Despoja said Silence and Inaction highlighted a profound absence of dedicated, youth-specific domestic, family, and sexual violence services in South Australia.

“Young people interviewed described feeling invisible within adult-centric systems that treated children as extensions of their caregivers rather than as individuals with rights and experiences of harm in their own right,” she said.

“It was important to me that the voices of children and young people were heard be, in fact, central to the work of this Commission. This piece of work is so significant as it captures the voices of those whose perspectives are too often absent from policy, service design and system reform efforts.

“The accounts of these young victim-survivors highlight the many ways they were let down by the institutions and services meant to protect them.

“We have listened to their voices and they will inform a crucial part of the Commission’s approach to identifying the systemic changes that are so clearly needed.”

Dr Fitz-Gibbon, who conducted all of the interviews with the young victim-survivors, said: “The findings are clear: while young victim-survivors often demonstrate extraordinary resilience, our current systems do not consistently support them in ways that recognise their rights, safety, and unique needs as child victim-survivors.

“Young victim-survivors of domestic, family, and sexual violence know what they need despite largely never having received it themselves. They want to feel safe. They want to be believed,” she said.

Silence and Inaction can be accessed via the Royal Commission’s website.

The Royal Commission’s report is due to be delivered next month.