Submission to National inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention

This document is a submission made in 2014 by the APS to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

The detailed submission presents psychological evidence and practice-based experience of those who have worked within detention centres about the impact of immigration detention on the health, well-being and development of children.

The APS recommends that detaining children is not commensurate with psychological best practice concerning children’s mental health and wellbeing. Rather, it is recommended that children should be processed on the Australian mainland and, pending the outcome of their Refugee Assessment Status claims and security clearances, they should be placed in the community.

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