Characteristics and health conditions of children living with veteran parents

This report analysed and disaggregated children’s data by selected service-related characteristics of their veteran parents as these factors provide important context for interpreting the children’s outcomes. Characteristics such as the parent’s service branch, rank, length of service, reasons for separation from the ADF and operational experience may expose families to varying levels of stressors or influence their socioeconomic status. For example, longer service may be associated with greater financial stability and access to entitlements, while recent separation from the ADF could coincide with transitional challenges that impact the household. Disaggregating data by these service characteristics helps identify gaps and potential areas for more effective, targeted interventions that address the diverse experiences of veteran families.

Most veteran parents are male

Of the 222,000 children with one veteran parent, 196,000 (88%) had a male veteran parent, reflecting the sex distribution of veterans more broadly (ABS 2021b). The 2021 Census recorded 152,000 veteran parents of which 126,000 were male veterans (83%) and 26,500 were female veterans (17%). Additionally, 123,000 were ex-serving parents, 19,000 current serving permanent parents and 10,500 current serving reserves parents.

Most children had a veteran parent who had previously served in the permanent service

Of the 180,000 children with an ex-serving veteran parent, 52% had a parent who previously served in the permanent service only, 38% had a parent who previously served in the reserves only, and 9.7% had a parent who had served in both (Figure 4).

Among the children with a current serving permanent parent, 6.4% had a parent who previously served in the reserves service.

Among children with a current serving reserves parent, 51% had a parent who had previously served in the permanent service. Non-dependent children 25 years and older had the highest proportion (59%) of current serving reserves parents who had previously served in the permanent service. This may reflect older veterans who move into the reserves service prior to separating from the ADF.

Of the 176,000 children from the 2021 Census whose veteran parent also linked to Defence Personnel data, 13% (22,500) had a current serving permanent parent, 11% (19,600) had a current serving reserves parent and 76% (134,000) had an ex-serving parent.

Two-thirds of children had a veteran parent who served in the Army

In line with the distribution of veterans across the three Services (Army, Navy and Air Force), two-thirds of children (68%, corresponding to 119,000) had a parent who was currently serving or was ex-serving in the Army. The proportions of children with a parent currently serving or ex-serving in the Navy, and the Air Force were similar at 16% each.

Across all 3 service branches, regardless of whether the parent was a current serving permanent, current serving reserves or ex-serving member, children under 15 comprised the largest proportion of children living with their parents.

4 in 5 children had a veteran parent who had a rank other than Officer

Consistent with the distribution of veterans, more than four in five children (83%, corresponding to 145,000) had a veteran parent who had a rank other than Officer. The proportion of children with parents who were Officers was 13% for children with an ex-serving parent and 33% for both children with a current serving permanent or a reserves parent.

Half of veterans’ children had a parent with 10 years of service or more

Similar to the distribution of veterans, nearly half of the children (46%, corresponding to 80,000) of current and ex-serving members, had a parent who had served in the ADF for 10 years or more. Just over one in four children (26%) had a parent who had served more than 1 to less than 5 years.

Length of service differed depending on the service status of the child’s veteran parent. Children of permanent or reserves members were more likely to have a parent with 10 years or more of service than children of ex-serving parents (78% and 79% respectively, compared with 35%), reflecting longer service durations among current serving parents.

2 in 5 children had a parent separated involuntarily from the ADF

Reason for separation from the ADF is relevant to the wellbeing of veteran families because analysis by AIHW has shown that ex-serving members who separated from the ADF for involuntary medical reasons had poorer social wellbeing outcomes (employment, income and education) and a higher rate of suicide than veterans who separated voluntarily.

Of children with an ex-serving parent who had separated since 2003, 48% (corresponding to 33,000) had a parent who separated voluntarily, around 40% separated involuntarily (16% for medical reasons, and 24% for other reasons), and 12% separated due to a contractual or administrative change. These are broadly similar to the proportions for all veterans.

Most children of current serving members have a parent with operational experience

Operational experience by a veteran parent has the potential to be a stressor for the families of veterans.

The proportion of children with a veteran parent who had any kind of operational experience was highest for children with a current serving permanent parent (83%) followed by children with a current serving reserves parent (63%) and children with an ex-serving parent (34%). This pattern was consistent for all types of operational experience.