Cumulative harm in the child protection system: T he A ustralian context

Cumulative harm is a major child protection concern, with significant consequences for child well‐being and development often into adult life. This systematic literature review examines how the construct of cumulative harm is understood and operationalized within current Australian child protection legislation, policy, and practice and situates this within an international context. Scholarly articles and grey literature were qualitatively analysed to explore two main research questions: How is cumulative harm to children identified, assessed, and ultimately incorporated into child protection and legal structures? And what are the most effective responses to cumulative harm identified for child protection practice? What was found was that although the construct of cumulative harm is increasingly incorporated into child protection practice and legislation, in practice, this remains crisis‐driven. Although the literature emphasized prevention and early intervention as responses to reducing the cumulative impact of adverse childhood experiences, there is negligible research on what constitutes an effective response to cases involving cumulative harm. They are cases which are less visible within the child protection paradigm; attention to the impact of risk of maltreatment and its influence on long‐term developmental outcomes is less well addressed creating uncertainty and ambiguity about effective responses for child protection.