Health of children who experienced Australian immigration detention.

Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science

Autism Spectrum Disorder* ; Refugees*/psychology; Infant ; Humans ; Child ; Emigration and Immigration ; Retrospective Studies ; Australia/epidemiology

Background: Australian immigration policy resulted in large numbers of children being held in locked detention. We examined the physical and mental health of children and families who experienced immigration detention.
Methods: Retrospective audit of medical records of children exposed to immigration detention attending the Royal Children's Hospital Immigrant Health Service, Melbourne, Australia, from January 2012 -December 2021. We extracted data on demographics, detention duration and location, symptoms, physical and mental health diagnoses and care provided.
Results: 277 children had directly (n = 239) or indirectly via parents (n = 38) experienced locked detention, including 79 children in families detained on Nauru or Manus Island. Of 239 detained children, 31 were infants born in locked detention. Median duration of locked detention was 12 months (IQR 5-19 months). Children were detained on Nauru/Manus Island (n = 47/239) for a median of 51 (IQR 29-60) months compared to 7 (IQR 4-16) months for those held in Australia/Australian territories (n = 192/239). Overall, 60% (167/277) of children had a nutritional deficiency, and 75% (207/277) had a concern relating to development, including 10% (27/277) with autism spectrum disorder and 9% (26/277) with intellectual disability. 62% (171/277) children had mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression and behavioural disturbances and 54% (150/277) had parents with mental illness. Children and parents detained on Nauru had a significantly higher prevalence of all mental health concerns compared with those held in Australian detention centres.
Conclusion: This study provides clinical evidence of adverse impacts of held detention on children's physical and mental health and wellbeing. Policymakers must recognise the consequences of detention, and avoid detaining children and families.
Competing Interests: A/Prof Paxton has provided advice to Department of Home Affairs (previously the Department of Immigration and Border Protection) through the Minister’s Council for Asylum Seekers and Detention (2015-2018), the Home Affairs Independent Medical Advisors Panel (previously the Independent Health Advisors Panel, from 2014-ongoing) and the Health Subcommittee of the Joint Advisory Committee for Nauru Regional Processing (2013–2016). GP also chairs a working group on immunisation in refugee and asylum seeker populations for the Victorian Department of Health (from 2015). The Royal Children’s Hospital Immigrant Health Service is funded by the Victorian Department of Health.
(Copyright: © 2023 Tosif et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

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Date Created: 20230309 Date Completed: 20230313 Latest Revision: 20240914

20240914

PMC9997934

10.1371/journal.pone.0282798

36893157