About

The Age of Inquiry project is mapping inquiries into historical child abuse that have proliferated since the 1990s. Our aim from the outset has been to develop a comprehensive and publicly available web resource containing information on inquiries across the globe.

It focuses in particular on investigations into institutional child abuse, which encompass a range of settings, typically outside the family but including arrangements such as foster care.

This resource is a work in progress. It aims to extend understandings of inquiries in the present and recent past by documenting and categorising their key features. The inquiries currently listed are being progressively updated as the research progresses.

Major updates are published as new editions. The current (third) edition was published in 2025.

The project brings together a team of scholars from Australia and Europe and actively encourages contributions from other researchers with expertise in this field.

We welcome feedback on the project.

Please contact us if you:

• identify inquiries not yet listed;
• are interested in contributing data on a particular inquiry;
• would like more information about the project; and/or
• wish to provide feedback on the inquiries included thus far.

You can find our contact details here.