Victoria Saunders

Victoria Saunders serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Child Protection Studies within the Faculty of Education and Arts at Australian Catholic University. Her academic career centers on vulnerable child populations, with particular expertise in children of incarcerated parents and refugee family systems across Australian contexts.

Her research profile reveals six core domains:

• Child Protection systems and policy implementation
• Stigma mechanisms affecting children of prisoners
• Service accessibility barriers for refugee families
• Child sexual abuse prevention frameworks
• Youth transition challenges from detention settings
• Innovative methodologies for engaging marginalized children

Saunders' publication trajectory (2010-2020) demonstrates increasing policy impact, notably through contributions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Her work consistently employs child-centered qualitative approaches, revealing systemic gaps in support services while amplifying youth voices often excluded from policy discourse. Recent publications show heightened focus on comparative analysis between children's lived experiences and official policy narratives.

She maintains active research collaborations with Morag McArthur (primary co-author), Steven Roche, Erin Barry, and Fiona Arney across 11 joint publications. Current projects emphasize intercultural dialogue frameworks and refugee community integration strategies within Australian service systems.