OzChild and Torrens University study reveals how child welfare leaders make critical decisions

15 June 2026 | Media Release

New research from Torrens University Australia and OzChild is examining how senior leaders make those decisions and how to ensure they are consistently informed by the best available evidence, offering an evidence-driven roadmap as the sector awaits the findings of the Queensland Commission of Inquiry into the Child Safety System.

The project, funded by leading child welfare provider OzChild, is being conducted by researchers from Torrens University Australia’s Centre of Organisational Change and Agility (COCA).

The study examines how senior leaders in child welfare use multiple sources of evidence, including professional judgement, scientific research, lived experience, and organisational data when making decisions that carry life-altering consequences for children and families.

Led by Professor Ros Cameron and Adjunct Dr Fiona Chatteur, the research brings together an influential international collaboration, including OzChild CEO Dr Lisa J. Griffiths, global evidence-based management expert Dr Eric Barends (Netherlands), and renowned organisational scholar Professor Denise Rousseau of Carnegie Mellon University (USA).

With its combination of global expertise, methodological innovation, and real-world relevance, the study positions evidence-based decision making (EBDM) as both a practical tool and a policy imperative and sends a clear message: improving outcomes for children will require not only better policies, but better ways of thinking, deciding, and learning at every level of leadership. Outcomes for children ultimately depend on thousands of decisions made across organisations every day. Understanding how evidence is used in those decisions is critical to improving safety, permanency and well-being outcomes.

A critical contribution at a critical moment

Against the backdrop of potential child welfare reform, the study’s findings demonstrate how evidence can be more effectively integrated into leadership decision making and provide ways of improving accountability, consistency, and outcomes across the system.

Key recommendations are:

• Providing leaders access to contemporary child welfare research
• Supporting leaders through communities of practice which foster peer learning, shared problem solving and ongoing professional dialogue
• Using tools to ensure evidence is clearly documented: Strengthening transparency and consistency in evidence-informed decision processes
• Developing a framework to support leaders to embed EBDM: Guiding daily professional practice so evidence-based decision making becomes routine
• Implementing the proposed EBDM Transfer of Learning System: Complementing formal training with practice-based reinforcement, application and organisational integration

Sector leadership driving sector change

For organisations like OzChild, the project shows how industry leadership can drive innovation not only in service delivery but also in generating the knowledge needed to shape the sector and better serve Australian communities, families and their children.

Every decision has consequences for a child, a young person or a family. Understanding how leaders make those decisions, particularly under pressure, is essential if we want systems that are fairer, more consistent and better able to support positive outcomes.

OzChild CEO Dr Lisa J. Griffiths said the organisation is proud to support research that has both immediate practical value and long-term policy relevance.

Senior leaders operate in environments of complexity, urgency, and uncertainty. This research helps us understand how evidence is used in those moments, and how it can be used more effectively. We’re generating academic insights, but we’re also producing practical tools and guidance that leaders can use right now. That combination is rare, and it’s exactly what the sector needs.

Professor Cameron emphasised the importance of understanding decision-making at the leadership level.

Innovative research design offers unprecedented insight

The study sets a new benchmark for how research in the sector can be conducted, encouraging more rigorous, real-time, and practice-informed approaches to understanding complex organisational challenges.

This includes:

• A mixed methods within a quasi-experimental framework, enabling the team to examine decision-making in a controlled yet realistic environment
• A protocol analysis, a technique that captures real-time decision processes. This method provides a rare window into how leaders think, weigh evidence, and act under pressure

This approach moves beyond traditional surveys or retrospective interviews, generating deeper, more reliable insights into the realities of leadership decision-making. For a sector where understanding how decisions are made is just as important as what decisions are made, this represents a major methodological leap forward.

Media contact: media.enquiries@torrens.edu.au