The Public Child

“This scholarly collection breaks new ground …”—Professor Ton Liefaard, UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights, Leiden University, The Netherlands

“… silenced children are never protected children …”—Megan Mitchell, Inaugural Children’s Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission 

“This ambitious book explains how, why, and what should change.”—Professor Sonia Livingstone, Digital Futures for Children Centre, London School of Economics

This edited book examines the cultural construction of the “public child” and its impact on children’s rights in Australia. The “public child” refers to a real child or groups of children whose lives have attracted media attention— either because concerns have been raised about their safety or because they have been identified as threats to others. Positioned at the intersection of media, politics, and policymaking, this collection explores how, in an increasingly mediatized political landscape, discursive constructions of the “public child” shape state responses, exerting a logic of control and silencing.

Amid international debates on child social media bans and increasingly punitive justice systems, this timely work will appeal to scholars of family and youth sociology, criminology, media and gender studies, and education, as well as journalists and legal practitioners specializing in children’s rights.

The book includes five sections: Media and Regulatory Theatre, Domestic Family and Sexual Violence, Justice Systems, Sex and Gender, and Speaking Out and Listening In. The final section focuses on how children exercise agency and express their perspectives, and how adults can serve as allies to them. 

Camilla Nelson is Associate Professor in Media at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. Denise Buiten is Senior Lecturer in Social Justice at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. Jodi Death is Associate Professor in the School of Justice at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.