NCJ Number
208550
Date Published
2005
Length
93 pages
Annotation
This report presents comprehensive data on child protection notifications, investigations, and substantiations, children on care and protection orders, and children in out-of-home care in Australia for 2003 to 2004.
Abstract
In Australia, child protection is the responsibility of the community services department in each State and territory. The children who come into contact with the community service departments for protective reasons include: children who are suspected of being, have been, or are being abused, neglected or otherwise harmed, and children whose parents cannot or are unable to provide adequate care or protection. Currently, all States and territories have some level of legislation requiring the reporting to community services departments of harm due to child abuse or neglect. Data are collected each year by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare from these departments in each State and territory covering the 2003-2004 financial years. This report presents this collected data which are based on three national child protection data collections: (1) child protection notifications, investigations, and substantiations; (2) children on care and protection orders; and (3) children in out-of-home care. Highlights of the data include: (1) over the last 5 years the number of child protection notifications in Australia more than doubled from 107,134 in 1999-2000 to 219,384 in 2003-2004; (2) the number of substantiations also increased over the last 5 years; (3) there were more children on care and protection orders in 2003-2004 than 2002-2003 in every jurisdiction providing data; (4) in 2004, the rate of children aged 0-17 years per 1,000 on care and protection orders ranged from 3.4 to 5.8; (5) nationally, the number of children in out-of-home care rose each year from 1996 to 2004, increasing by 56 percent from 13,979 in 1996 to 21,795 in 2004; and (6) only 4 percent of children in care in 2004 were in residential care with 53 percent in foster care and 40 percent in relative or kinship care. Tables, figures, and appendixes 1-4