A ripple effect of suffering: Children and young people’s experiences of parental immigration detention and deportation

Message from the National Children's Commisisoner

The voices of children and young people and their families are often completely absent from government policy debates in Australia. Yet the policies, laws and systems that have been designed and implemented by adults can affect children the most, sometimes with long-lasting and debilitating effects.

The report highlights the voices of children and young people whose parents and primary caregivers have been placed in immigration detention following cancellation of their visas, and who are subsequently deported from Australia.

Through 104 in-depth interviews, 105 anonymous surveys, and artwork, children, young people and their families share their stories of being separated from their family members by immigration detention and deportation.

In their own words, they emphasise the importance of family unity and relationships for children’s emotional wellbeing. Their stories paint a different picture to the usual view presented in the media of people whose visas have been cancelled on character grounds, showing that many are also parents or caregivers, and how children suffer the consequences of both adult and government actions through no fault of their own.

I hope that hearing about their experiences, and their wishes for a more compassionate approach, will lead to greater consideration of children and young people’s rights when visa, detention and deportation decisions are being made.

Deb Tsorbaris

National Children's Commissioner

Message from report lead author Dr Michelle Peterie

For children living in the Australian community, the immigration detention of a parent can mean years of bedtimes, bathtimes and birthdays without this primary caregiver present. It can mean regular visits to an austere, intimidating institution, or years with no physical contact if a parent is transferred to a detention centre interstate.

The detention of a parent can mean prolonged financial strain and crippling stigma as the family struggles to make ends meet. In some cases, where a parent faces deportation from Australia, it can lead to either indefinite family separation or relocation to a (potentially unfamiliar) country to prevent the family being torn apart.

At the time of writing this report, Australia holds 1,054 people in onshore immigration detention facilities. The majority of these ‘detainees’ are fighting against their removal from Australia after the cancellation of a visa, often on character grounds (Australian Government, 2026). Many of these detained men and women have children living in the Australian community, some of them Australian citizens.

This report tells the stories of these children for the first time. Amplifying children and young people’s voices – and locating their perspectives within their families’ broader experiences – this report documents the rippling impacts of immigration detention and deportation.

The research presented here was informed by two aims:– First, to assess the impacts of immigration enforcement laws, policies and practices on children and young people embroiled in this system via the detention and/or deportation of a parent or caregiver; and – Second, to promote compliance with Australia’s international obligations to act in the best interests of children.

The evidence presented here shows that immigration detention and deportation do not only ‘happen’ to the individual who is detained and/or deported. These laws, policies and practices also have profound and often deleterious impacts on their children and families.

Dr Michelle Peterie

ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, The University of Sydney

About the study

It is now well-established that aspects of Australia’s immigration enforcement policies are contrary to Australia’s international human rights obligations. For over 35 years, the Australian Human Rights Commission and respective Presidents and Commissioners have consistently found that prolonged immigration detention breaches the right not to be detained arbitrarily. Echoing mounting academic research in this area (von Werthern et al., 2018), consecutive Commission reports have drawn attention to the serious and corrosive impacts of prolonged immigration detention on those who are incarcerated (e.g., AHRC, 2014, 2017, 2024a).

In recognition of these impacts on detained children, Australian governments on both sides of politics have taken steps to reduce the number of children in immigration detention. To date, however, little research has been undertaken into the impacts of parental immigration detention and deportation on children and families (Peterie, 2022, 2024).

Building on the now well-established evidence of direct harm on people who are detained, this report interrogates some of the indirect impacts of Australia’s immigration detention and deportation system. This report draws on findings from a qualitative study undertaken by the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at The University of Sydney.

It tells the stories of children and young people growing up in the shadow of Australia’s immigration detention and deportation systems. Between March 2024 and April 2026, 104 in-depth interviews were conducted with children (7–17yrs), young people (18-25yrs), and members of their immediate families and support systems. To enable children to share their perspectives safely, child participants were given the option of using arts-based methods in their interviews. This involved children drawing pictures about different aspects of their lives and experiences and telling us about these drawings.

105 online survey responses were also collected from children, young people and family members who preferred to participate in the study anonymously. To safeguard child participants’ safety, involvement in this online component of the study was limited to people who were at least 16 years old.

Throughout this report, care has been taken to centre participants’ voices and perspectives through the inclusion of direct quotes and stories, as well as children’s drawings.

Research findings

The overarching finding of this study is that children and young people are often acutely and adversely impacted when a parent or caregiver is detained or deported.

In relation to children and young people’s experiences of parental immigration detention, we found that:

• When a parent or caregiver is detained, children’s family structures, home environments and daily rhythms change dramatically. Many children and young people feel that their world has been shattered.
• Visiting immigration detention facilities with children is prohibitively difficult, compromising children’s access to their detained parent or caregiver. Visitor application processes are complicated and time consuming. Inflexible visiting times and distant detention locations create additional barriers to visitation.
• Immigration detention facilities are stressful places for children. Existing facilities and procedures rarely allow families to interact in a natural and developmentally appropriate way. Many children experience acute emotional distress surrounding visits, particularly when leaving their detained parent or caregiver.
• Children of detained parents often face financial strain, food poverty and housing insecurity, as well as reduced access to support as other members of the family struggle to make ends meet. In these circumstances, many older children take on additional responsibilities to help their families, leading to parentification and educational disruption.
• Children and young people impacted by the detention of a parent or caregiver self-report feelings of sadness, abandonment, shame, disconnection, and anger. Many withdraw from their families and friend groups and become disengaged at school. Without robust support, children and young people are at risk of mental ill health, substance use, violence, and reckless behaviour.
• Help is rarely available to families in moments of crisis or arrives too late to interrupt intergenerational cycles of distress, addiction and incarceration.

In relation to children and young people’s experiences of parental deportation, we found that:

• The deportation of a parent or caregiver upends children and young people’s lives, compromising their sense of safety and stability.
• When a parent or caregiver is deported, older children and young people often have to decide whether to relocate too. Many face impossible choices between their deported parent or caregiver, and their other parent or caregivers who may elect to remain in Australia.
• Children who relocate with their deported parent or caregiver grieve the lives, loved ones and futures they left in Australia. Those who remain in Australia grieve their deported parent or caregiver and the life they shared or might have shared together. For both groups, parental deportation is a source of profound loss.
• Face-to-face visits to the deported parent or caregiver’s country of citizenship are prohibitively difficult for many separated families, who face financial and logistical barriers to international travel. Very often, children and young people go years without seeing their deported family member. This robs children and young people of foundational relationships, as well as opportunities to heal. In cases of family breakdown, children in Australia may lose contact with their deported parent or caregiver until they are old enough to pursue this independently.
• Parental deportation contributes to financial stress in many families. Older children and young people frequently take on additional responsibilities to support their families, typically at the expense of other pursuits.
• Children of deported parents or caregivers report isolation from their peers; many grapple with feelings of sadness, loneliness, frustration, and anger, which may contribute to substance use and violence.
• The impacts of parental deportation are long-term and intergenerational in nature, shaping children and young people’s education, wellbeing, careers, family planning and parenting for years after the deportation.

For decades, the Australian Human Rights Commission has reported on the serious human rights violations associated with Australia’s policy of mandatory immigration detention and has urged successive governments to bring the regime to an end. In widening the analytic lens to centre the perspectives and experiences of children and young people impacted by the detention and/or deportation of a parent or caregiver, this report further substantiates the need for policy reform.

The evidence and testimonies gathered in this report will hopefully prompt the Australian Government and the Australian community to reconsider Australia’s immigration detention and deportation laws and policies. Currently, these laws and policies inflict profound and unnecessary harm not only on the people directly targeted, but also on their families and children. Urgent action is needed to disrupt the current trajectory towards intergenerational harm.