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National Child Protection Clearinghouse
Published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies
ISSN 1448-9112 (Online)
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It is generally accepted that there are four types of child abuse and neglect - sometimes referred to as child maltreatment. These are physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional/psychological abuse and neglect.
There is no accurate information about the incidence or prevalence of child abuse in Australia. "Prevalence" refers to the total number of children who have experienced abuse or neglect at some point in their childhood. "Incidence" refers to the total number of children who experienced abuse or neglect during a specified time period. Such information is usually collected via a large survey of the population.
The most accurate statistics that are available about child abuse and neglect in Australia are the numbers of reports of suspected child abuse and neglect made to statutory child protection departments each year.
While these figures give some indication of the incidence (or numbers) of child abuse and neglect being reported to authorities in Australia, it is assumed that fewer cases of abuse are reported than are occurring in the Australian population.
In Australia, state governments have the statutory responsibility for protecting children from child abuse and neglect. Definitions of what constitutes child abuse vary across the different states and territories (for more information on this, refer to Resource Sheet no. 12, Australian Legal Definitions: When is a Child in Need of Protection?). Thus it is difficult to obtain consistent and comparable national statistics.
Since 1990, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has compiled annual national figures of the number of cases of child abuse reported to state child protection departments.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008) statistics can be found at: www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10566
The most recent national figures from the Australian Institute of Health Welfare indicate that in Australia, during 2006-07, there were 309,517 reports of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect made to state authorities. These figures have increased by over 50% in the last five years, from 198,355 in 2002-03. The figures do not necessarily mean that the actual incidence of child abuse and neglect has increased over this time, but they do show that the reporting of cases to child protection services has increased.
Table 1 shows that in 2006-07, 58,563 reported cases were substantiated. "Substantiated" means that a case of suspected abuse was reported and investigated, and child protection authorities verified (on the balance of probabilities) that the allegation was true and the child was in need of protection.
Table 1: Number of substantiations, states and territories, 1999-2000 to 2006-07
Year |
NSW(a) | Vic. | Qld | WA | SA | Tas.(b) | ACT | NT | Total |
1999-00 |
6,477 | 7,359 | 6,919 | 1,169 | 2,085 | 97 | 233 | 393 | 24,732 |
2000-01 |
7,501 | 7,608 | 8,395 | 1,191 | 1,998 | 103 | 222 | 349 | 27,367 |
2001-02 |
8,606 | 7,687 | 10,036 | 1,187 | 2,230 | 158 | 220 | 349 | 30,473 |
2002-03 |
16,765 | 7,287 | 12,203 | 888(c) | 2,423 | 213 | 310 | 327 | 40,416 |
2003-04 |
n.a. | 7,412 | 17,473 | 968 | 2,490 | 427 | 630(d) | 527 | n.a. |
2004-05 |
15,493 | 7,398 | 17,307 | 1,104 | 2,384 | 782 | 1,213 | 473 | 46,154 |
2005-06 |
29,809 | 7,563 | 13,184 | 960 | 1,855 | 793(e) | 1,277 | 480 | 55,921 |
2006-07 |
37,094 | 6,828(f) | 8,441(g)(h) | 1,233 | 2,242 | 1,252(e) | 852(i) | 621 | 58,563 |
(a) The data for 2002-03 onwards should not be compared with previous years. New South Wales implemented a modification to the data system to support legislation and practice changes during 2002-03 which would make any comparison inaccurate. New South Wales was able to provide limited data for 2003-04 due to the introduction of a new client information system.
(b) The increase in substantiations in Tasmania is considered to be in part due to increased application of the Tasmanian Risk Framework as well as greater adherence to the definition of 'substantiation' published by the AIHW.
(c) The decrease in substantiations in 2002-03 reflects the decrease in notifications in Western Australia.
(d) The increase in substantiations in 2003-04 relates to the increase in notifications in the ACT.
(e) Data relating to substantiations for Tasmania for 2005-06 and 2006-07 should be interpreted carefully due to the high proportion of investigations in process by 31 August (see Table 2.1).
(f) Due to new service and data reporting arrangements, the Victorian child protection data for 2006-07 may not be fully comparable with previous years' data.
(g) 2006-07 data for Queensland are interim and will be revised in 2008.
(h) 2006-07 substantiation figures for Queensland are affected by a change in recording practice. From March 2007, any new child protection concerns received by the department that relate to an open notification or investigation and assessment are recorded as an additional concern and linked to the open notification/investigation and assessment. Previously, any new child protection concerns received by the department were recorded as an additional notification. If an investigation relating to these notifications was substantiated, each notification was recorded as a separate substantiation. Because new concerns are now recorded as additional concerns and not notifications, only the original notification is counted as a substantiation, where the investigation outcome is substantiated.
(i) The decrease in the number of substantiated investigations reflects a requirement of staff to substantiate emotional abuse or neglect only if there was, or is likely to be, significant harm and there was no-one with parental responsibility willing and able to protect the child/young person. Recording an outcome of an appraisal as not substantiated does not exclude ongoing work with the child or young person.
Source: AIHW, 2008, p. 23
In all jurisdictions, girls were approximately three times more likely than boys to be the subject of a substantiation of sexual abuse.
Boys were generally more likely than girls to be the subject of a substantiation for physical abuse.
The rates of substantiated abuse or neglect decreased as age increased. Children under one year old were the most likely to be the subject of a substantiated report of abuse or neglect, while children aged 15-16 years were the least likely.
Nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were more likely to be the subject of substantiated reports than were other children. Across Australia, Indigenous children were more than 5 times as likely as other children to be the subject of a substantiation.
Some children who are found to have suffered abuse and neglect are removed from their homes by child protection authorities and placed in out-of-home care. Nationally, the number of children in out-of-home care rose each year from 1996-2007. There were 28,441 children in out-of-home care on 30 June 2007. Almost one-third (31%) of children in out-of-home care were aged 10-14 years. A further 30% were aged 5-9 years, 25% were aged less than 5 years and 14% were aged 15-17 years.
Most children who were removed from their homes were placed in home-based care (95%). Home-based care is where placement is in the home of a carer. There are three categories of home-based care:
Of those children in home-based care, 50% were in foster care, 44% were in relative/kinship care, and 1% were in some other type of home-based care.
A small proportion of children (4%) removed from their homes are placed in residential care where staff are paid to care for them. Children in residential care were considerably older than children in home-based care, with 42% aged between 10-14 years and a further 41% aged between 15-17 years.
At 30 June 2007, there were 7,892 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care. The national rate of Indigenous children in out-of-home care was over 8 times the rate for other children.
Anyone who suspects that a child is being abused and/or neglected or is at risk of being abused and/or neglected may make a report to child protection authorities.
Each state has its own legislation stipulating those people who are mandated by law to report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. The requirements vary between each state. Mandatory reporting requirements are outlined in Resource Sheet no. 3, Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse.
The most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show that notifications most commonly came from police, hospitals and health centres and school personnel.
Like Australia, the United States collects statistics about the number of reports made to state child protective services.
In the US, about 3.6 million children were the subject of investigations by state child protection services in 2005. About 25% of these reports (899,000 children) were substantiated. Of these:
In the United States, in 2005, the number of children in substantiated cases of abuse was 12.1 per 1,000 children (Administration for Children & Families, 2005). This compares with rates in Australia, which range from 2.0 per 1,000 in Western Australia up to 12.0 per 1,000 in the Australian Capital Territory.
There have been no national incidence or prevalence studies in Australia to tell us about the occurrence of child abuse and neglect in the community. Other countries such the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have conducted such studies.
The United Kingdom has conducted a large-scale study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect (Cawson, Wattam, Brooker, & Kelly, 2000). The study was conducted in 2000 by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and can be used for guidance about the possible prevalence of child abuse in Australia.
The UK study surveyed a national random probability sample of 2,869 young people aged 18-24 years and found that, of this sample of the population:
Administration for Children & Families. (2005). Child maltreatment. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved 26 November 2007, from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm05/index.htm
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2008). Child protection Australia 2006-07. Canberra: Author. Retrieved 27 February 2008, from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10566
Cawson, P., Wattam, C., Brooker, S., & Kelly, G. (2000). Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom. London: National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
Higgins, D. J., Bromfield, L. M., & Richardson, N. (2007, August). Mandatory reporting of child abuse (Resource Sheet No. 3). Melbourne: National Child Protection Clearinghouse. Retrieved 26 November 2007, from: http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs3/rs3.html
Holzer, P. J., & Bromfield, L. M. (2007, September). Australian legal definitions: When is a child in need of protection? (Resource Sheet No. 12). Melbourne: National Child Protection Clearinghouse. Retrieved 26 November 2007, from: http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs12/rs12.html
Child Protection Statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Bromfield, L. M., & Higgins, D. J. (2005). National comparison of child protection systems. Child Abuse Prevention Issues, 22, 1-31. Retrieved 8 March 2008, from: http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/issues/issues22/issues22.html
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