NCJ Number
206736
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2004 Pages: 304-308
Date Published
August 2004
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article reports the themes emerging from a daylong forum hosted by Health Canada in 2002 on the usefulness of the data collected in the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS).
Abstract
CIS represents the first attempt to collect and analyze national data concerning the incidence of child abuse and neglect in Canada. CIS collects data on neglect, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in order to inform policy decisions and research pertaining to child maltreatment. Health Canada sponsored a daylong forum in which policymakers, researchers, and representatives from 13 Federal departments explored ways of making CIS data more useful for policy development and research purposes. The main themes that emerged involved definition and measurement issues. Definitions of child maltreatment vary widely by cultural norms, intentions, legal frameworks, and the victim’s and perpetrator’s ages. Acts that are identified as child maltreatment differ across social groups, cultures, and individuals. CIS definitions of child maltreatment are based on current research and provincial/territorial legislation. The forum members agreed that more contextual information should be added to the CIS scales on current issues of policy development. There was also a stated need for more longitudinal data for the purposes of public health surveillance. In the end, it was agreed that the CIS serves as an important surveillance tool and contributes to research efforts in the field of child maltreatment. By providing a common point of reference for information on child maltreatment in Canada, a better understanding of the complexities of child maltreatment will emerge. The forum served to build partnerships between policymakers and researchers and to strengthen resolve to address the problem of child maltreatment in Canada. References