Dr. Bernadette Saunders is Associate Professor & Head of Social Work since September, 2022. She is an internationally recognized academic with post-graduate qualifications in Social Work and Education.

For 23 years, as an Academic at Monash University, she engaged in the education of social workers, and in research and writing largely focusing upon injustices that have affected disadvantaged groups, especially children and young people. The role of law, language, and/or culture have been a key focus of her work. She coordinated the Master of Social Work from its inception at Monash in 2011 until 2018. She developed, coordinated, and taught Bachelor and Master of Social Work units, including “Human Rights, Law and Ethics”, “The Child in Society: Promoting Child Well-Being and Responding to Child Maltreatment”, and “Leadership & Groupwork”.

During this 23-year period, she passionately advocated, through research, publications, conference presentations, and media engagement, for law reform and for community and professionals’ education that recognises people’s human rights to dignity and protection from harm, especially the human rights of children and other disadvantaged people, such as people with ABI, drug and alcohol addictions, mental health issues, living with family violence, and also from ATSI backgrounds.

In 2010, Wiley UK published her book based on my PhD research, Physical Punishment in Childhood: The Rights of the Child. She has since co-edited two books and written chapters in other edited books, with colleagues in Social Work, Law, and Arts (Criminology).

Portfolios

Areas of expertise

  • Child abuse & child protection
  • Childhood adverse experiences
  • Discipline & parenting; physical punishment in childhood
  • family violence; acquired brain injury/neurodisability and criminal justice system
  • language and the media
  • impact of law on disadvantaged groups

Contact details

(03) 9919 5281
bernadette.saunders@vu.edu.au

Teaching responsibilities

Coordination

  • BSW Course Convenor

Teaching

  • ASW4003 Social Work Advocacy: Scope, Research & Design 
  • ASW3103 Social Work Practice: Legal Context

Supervision

  • PhD supervision – 3 completions; 3 current co-supervisor
  • Masters/Honours students completions - multiple

Research grants

  • 2019 Criminology Research Council: Young Offenders and Acquired Brain Injury: Reducing/Addressing Imprisonment and Recidivism (Lansdell,G, (Law), Saunders, B.J. (Social Work) & Eriksson, A (Arts, Criminology)  - $44,852
  • 2018 Sidney Myer Fund: Indigenous Care Leavers in Australia: A National Scoping Survey Project (Mendes, P., Saunders, B., McCurdy, S., and Standfield, R.) - $128,462
  • 2014 Office of the Public Advocate: Enhancing the rights of people with an acquired brain injury within the criminal justice system (Lansdell, G., Saunders, B. & Eriksson, A.) - $244,000
  • 2010 Legal Services Board: An examination of the impact of unpaid fines on disadvantaged groups and the criminal justice system - towards a best practice model. Co-Chief Investigators: Dr Bernadette Saunders, School of Social Work, Monash University; A/Prof Gaye Lansdell, Faculty of Law, Monash University; Dr Anna Eriksson, Criminology, Monash University;. - 174,000
  • 2007 Legal Services Board: ‘Lawful correction or child abuse: clarifying the boundaries, sanctions and decision-making surrounding the physical discipline of children’ (Saunders, B with Renata Alexander and Bronwyn Naylor) - $133,533

Publications

Refereed journal articles

Lansdell, G., Saunders, B., Eriksson, A. & Bunn, R. (2022) ‘Strengthening the Connection Between Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and Family Violence: The Importance of Ongoing Monitoring, Research, and Inclusive Terminology’, Journal of Family Violence, 37, 367-380  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00278-1

Mendes, P., Standfield, R., Saunders, B., McCurdy, S., Walsh, J., & Turnbull, L. (2021) “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) young people leaving out-of-home care in Australia: A national scoping study”, Children and Youth Services Review, 121, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105848

Saunders, B.J., Lansdell, G., Frederick, J. (2019) "Understanding Children's Court Processes and Decisions: Perceptions of Children and their Families”, Youth Justice, 20 (3),pp272-292.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225419890691

Saunders, B.J. (2019) “‘Lawful Correction’: Children’s Human Rights and Social Work Advocacy”, Special Issue: Australian Social Work – Vulnerable Children and the Law, 72(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2019.1590611

Saunders B.J., Lansdell, G., Eriksson, A., and Bunn, R. (2018) “Friend or foe: The media’s power to inform and shape societal attitudes towards people with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)”, Disability & Society, 33, 6, pp. 932-953. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687599.2018.1466692

 

Books

Lansdell, G. Saunders, B.J and Eriksson, A. (Eds) (2021) Neurodisability and the Criminal Justice System: Comparative and Therapeutic Responses, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Saunders, B.J., Leviner, P., and Naylor, B. (Eds.) (2018) Corporal Punishment of Children; Comparative Legal and Social Developments, Brill|Nijoff, The Netherlands.

Saunders, B.J. and Goddard.C. (2010) Physical Punishment in Childhood: The Rights of the Child, Chichester, Wiley/Blackwell.

 

Refereed book chapters

Saunders, B.J. (2020) “Corporal Punishment: The Child’s Experience” in Michaelson, V. & Durrant, J. Putting children in their Place: Theology, Corporal Punishment and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba Press, Canada.

Saunders, B.J. and Lansdell, G. (2020) "The status and vulnerability of children, and the co-occurrence of childhood sexual abuse with other forms of abuse", in Bryce, I. and Petherick, W., Childhood Sexual Abuse: Forensic Issues in Evidence, Impact and Management.  Elsevier.

Saunders, B.J. (2019) “Physical discipline, child abuse and children’s rights” in Robinson, Y., Petherick, W., and Bryce, I. Child Abuse and Neglect: Forensic Issues in Evidence, Impact and Management. Elsevier, pp225-241.

Mendes, P., Saunders, B.J., Baidawi, S. (2019) “The Experiences of Indigenous Young People Transitioning from Out-of-Home Care in Victoria Australia” in Mann-Feder, V. & Goyette, M eds Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood: International Contributions to Theory, Research & Practice”, Oxford University Press, pp149-171.

Saunders, B. J. (2017) “Progress toward worldwide recognition of the child's human right to dignity, physical integrity and protection from harm” in Ruck, M., Peterson-Badali, M. & Freeman, M. (eds.) Handbook of Children's Rights: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Abdingdon Oxon UK: Routledge,pp. 239-258.

 

Conference presentations

Hlavac, J., Harrison, C., & Saunders, B. (2021) “Interprofessional education for interpreting students: joint training with medical and social work students”, AUSIT Annual Conference, Perth, online.

Saunders, B.J., Lansdell, G. & Eriksson, A.  (2019) “A Victorian Case Study of People with an ABI in the Criminal Justice System: Legal and Personal Perspectives’’ XXXVI International Congress on Law and Mental Health, Rome, Italy, July.

Saunders, B.J. (2017) “Problematising “childism” and related language in the English-speaking world: The power of words to either thwart or progress the attainment of children’s human rights to freedom from corporal punishment and other degrading treatment”, paper presented at Corporal Punishment of Children: Comparative Legal and Social Developments Workshop in Stockholm, Sweden, June 28- 30.

Saunders, B.J, Lansdell, G & Frederick, J (2017) ‘Understanding Children’s Court Processes and Decisions: Perceptions of Children and their Families’, invited paper presented in session: The Children’s Court: Balancing Welfare Priority with Legal Decision-Making at the XXXV th International Congress on Law and Mental Health, Prague, Czech Republic July 9-14.

Saunders, B.J. (2015) ‘Parental Corporal Punishment of Children: Still a Defence to Assault despite Twenty-Five Years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)’ – Invited paper in session Children’s Welfare and the Law: Legal Challenges at 34th International Congress of Law & Mental Health, Vienna, Austria, July 12- 17.

Lansdell, G, Saunders, B & Eriksson, A. (2015) ‘An Examination of the Interaction of People with an Acquired Brain Injury within the Victorian Criminal Justice System -Enhancing the Rights and Wellbeing of People with an Acquired Brain Injury’, invited paper at 8th ACSO International Criminal Justice Conference - Do prisons change lives? Melbourne, Australia 21-23 October.

Saunders, B.J. (2013) ‘Progress towards abolishing physical punishment in childhood: Advancing children’s rights to dignity and respectful treatment’, Faculty of Laws Current Issues Colloquium, Law & Michael Freeman’, University College London, United Kingdom, July 1-2.

Saunders, B.J. (2013) ‘The Physical Punishment or ‘Lawful Correction’ of Children – An Issue of Rights and Effects’ Invited paper in session on Child Abuse – 33rd International Congress of Law & Mental Health, Amsterdam, The Netherlands July 14- 19.

Saunders, B.J. (2011) ‘The importance of listening to children: Insights from qualitative research about physical punishment in childhood’, Invited keynote presented at the Global Summit on Ending Corporal Punishment and Promoting Positive Discipline, Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, Texas, United States June 2-4.

Professional memberships

  • Eligible for membership of the AASW
  • Member of PAFRA (Parenting and Family Research Alliance)
  • Member of EPPAC (End Physical Punishment of Australian Children)
  • Member ARACY – Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
  • Technical Expert Panel Member- Australian Childhood Maltreatment Study (ACMS)

Industry experience

Clinical social work experience at The Cancer Institute and Casey Hospital.

Appearances in the media

Saunders, B and Naylor, B (2016) ‘Parenting 101: Time to end parental tough Love’, Rappler 19.2.16 https://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/indonesia/bahasa/englishedition/122123-tough-love-punishment-children

Saunders, B.J. (2014) ‘Yes, physically disciplining kids is an act of violence’, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/yes-physically-disciplining-kids-is-an-act-of-violence-31425   September 12 

Saunders, B and Naylor, B (2013) ‘A wake-up call for parents who smack their children’, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/a-wake-up-call-for-parents-who-smack-their-children-16461  April 6

Saunders, B and Naylor, B (2012) ‘Parents it’s never okay to hit your kids’, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/parents-its-never-okay-to-hit-your-kids-8049   July 24

Naylor, B  and  Saunders, B.J  (2012) ‘The Slap: Corporal Punishment and Children’s Human Rights’ Right Now http://rightnow.org.au/opinion-3/the-slap-corporal-punishment-and-childrens-human-rights/  August 2.