The aim of the study was (a) to determine whether some children experienced chronic as opposed to isolated child maltreatment; and (b) to compare the characteristics of chronic and isolated child maltreatment. A statutory child protection sample of 100 families was selected and child protection case records audited for the eight-year period July 1 1994 to June 30 2002.

The quantitative analysis showed that for the 100 families there were:

• 374 notifications and 82 substantiations recorded;
• with a maximum of 22 notifications and 6 substantiations per family.
• 65/100 families had more than one 1 recorded notification; and
• 24/100 families had more than one 1 recorded substantiation.
• The average duration of family involvement with child protection was 3.3 years.
• Families averaged three to four notifications with approximately 10-months between each notification.

It was difficult to differentiate statistically, chronic and isolated child maltreatment. However, the case study analyses elicited several factors that did differentiate chronic and isolated maltreatment, including:

• the presence of a protective factor present (e.g. family support)
• parental readiness to change; and
• parental willing to seek/accept support were all present in isolated cases.
• Enduring (compared to temporal) problems; and
• a regulatory (as opposed to a therapeutic) approach by child protection were present in chronic maltreatment cases.

Conclusion:

• In some families maltreatment was isolated
• However, in most families maltreatment was recurrent over a prolonged period (chronic)
• Notifications did not relate to isolated incidents of maltreatment, typically there were 3-4 notifications all related to a particular problem experienced by a family member, which was contributing towards the children experiencing maltreatment
• All families had multiple interlinked problems.