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THE RATE OF CHILD ABUSE IN AUSTRALIA....
1. Prevalence
Child abuse remains prevalent, even today. The question remains: how prevalent? The social stigma around child abuse means that it gets swept under the carpet time and again. We know how many cases of abuse are being reported and how many cases are substantiated each year. However, it is impossible to know how many children are being abused every day but are too afraid to say anything.
In response to the growing awareness around child abuse, several laws have been set in place to protect children from further abuse. In every state in Australia mandatory reporting laws have been introduced (Higgins, Bromfield, & Richardson, 2007). These laws mandate that professionals who work with children are legally obliged to make a report about any child they suspect is in danger of abuse. These laws differ state-by-state, but are in place Australia-wide in some form. In spite of mandatory reporting laws, statistics suggest that child abuse remains prevalent.
In 2006-7, a total of 309,517 suspected cases of child abuse and neglect were reported. A total of 58,563 of these cases were substantiated (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008). The report found that girls were about three times more likely to be the subject of a substantiated sexual abuse claim than boys, but boys were generally more likely to be the subject of a substantiated claim of physical abuse than girls. In addition, the rates of substantiated abuse or neglect decreased as age increased (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2008).
The prevalence of child abuse is flagged by many other indicators. One of these is the numbers of calls to the Kid’s Help Line. Kid’s Help Line is a free, confidential and anonymous 24 hour counselling service for children and young people aged 5-25. Of calls made to the Kid’s Help Line, “Worry about a family member” was the most common reason for the call. Five % of calls were about child abuse or neglect (Kid’s Help Line, 2006).
A study by Draper et al. (2007) found that of 21,000 people over the age of 60 from 5 Australian states, 6.7% reported having been physically abused, 6.5% sexually, 10% reported either and 3% both (Draper et al., 2007). Research on a sample of randomly selected Australian women revealed that 20% of participants had experienced childhood sexual abuse (Fleming, 1997). Of those women, 71% were aged less than 12 years at the time of their abuse and only 10% of cases were ever reported. Andrews, Gould and Corry (2002) reported on the overall findings of seven studies and found that 5.1% of males and 27.5% of females had experienced some level of child sexual abuse.
Statistics suggest that child abuse is on the rise, but reporting may have increased rather than there being an actual increase in incidence. Perhaps adults are simply more aware of the warning signs of abuse now than ever before.
2. The Common Story
Andrews et al. (2002), who reported on the overall findings of seven studies, found that the onset of sexual abuse occurred at a mean age of 10. In 75% of cases the offender was known to the child, and in 40% of cases a family member was the offender.
A study by Palmer, Brown, Rae-Grant, & Loughin (2001) with 384 survivors of childhood abuse identified that most survivors reported a combination of abuse types: physical, emotional and sexual (45%); physical and emotional (21%); sexual and emotional (17%); sexual only (11%) and emotional only (6%). Survivors who could recall the age of onset of the abuse had been very young (between 4 and 6). The reported perpetrator were biological fathers (34%), biological mothers (19%), stepfathers, adoptive fathers and foster fathers (8%); stepmothers, adoptive mothers and foster mothers (5%); both parents equally (7%); other relative (14%); and siblings (10%).
A study by van Loon & Kralik (2005a) with female survivors of child sexual abuse found that the life of child sexual abuse survivors is often interwoven with emotional abuse and physical violence. Many participants in this study experienced assaults within their childhood families. These were usually not isolated events, but rather were sustained patterns of Behaviour, endured over many years. Most women recalled their earliest memories of sexual abuse between the ages of 5 and 8 years. Participants’ backgrounds varied across rural, remote and metropolitan settings and all social strata were represented, including professional, paraprofessional and working class families. There was an over-representation of perpetrators who were in positions of legally sanctioned authority. The participants in this study reported compounding social issues within the childhood family that included fragmentation of the family through divorce, family violence, alcohol and drug addictions, and mental illness. In most cases the family presented to the outside world as “normal”. Family relationships were characterised by intimidation, fear, shame, blame, secrecy and isolation, to avoid exposing the family to scrutiny. The victims were silenced by fear of the consequences of divulging the family secret. Perpetrators made excuses to avoid taking responsibility for their abusive actions and most commonly the child was blamed for somehow provoking, or enjoying the abuse. Unfortunately when children do tell, and the offending perpetrator denies their actions, it is often the perpetrator who is believed rather than the child. If the adult to whom the child discloses does not take any action the child may conclude that he/she is not worthwhile, or must be to blame. It reinforces the child’s distrust of adults and causes more entrenched silence, isolation, internalised anger, which quickly leads to despair and possibly to mental illness. Survivors suggest that while children need to be educated about stranger danger, most abuse is perpetrated by a person the child knows. Consequently the child also needs to be taught to say ‘no’ to uninvited and unwanted behaviours. However children find it almost impossible to have a voice to which their perpetrator/s will listen (van Loon & Kralik, 2005a).
3. What is Child Abuse?
Child abuse is any act by parents, caregivers or guardians that endangers a child’s physical or emotional health or development. Child abuse can be a single incident, but usually takes place over time (Richardson, 2004).
Definitions of abuse remain ambiguous. What is abusive behaviour for one person is not necessarily abusive to another. Acceptability around behaviour varies widely from one social group to another (Tucci, Saunders, & Goddard, 2002) and from culture to culture (Korbin, 1991). That said, some behaviours are objectively deleterious to the healthy development of a child regardless of the definition of the abuse or the culture. Although the definition of abuse remains contentious, it is common practice to talk about five different types of abuse:
Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Emotional/ Psychological Abuse
Neglect (Bromfield & Holzer, 2007)
Witnessing family violence (James, 1994)
It is important to note that children are often exposed to harmful behaviours from one or more of these categories of abuse (Higgins & McCabe, 2000). The nature of the abuse and the duration of exposure of harmful behaviours may affect the long-term effects of the abuse into adulthood (Higgins, 2004). Nonetheless, the type and duration of abuse are not the only factors determining the long-term effects of the abuse. A number of factors which impact resilience should also be considered (this will be explored under ‘resilience’).
Physical Abuse
Child physical abuse takes place when a parent or caregiver causes physical injury deliberately by punching, hitting, kicking, beating, biting, burning, shaking or otherwise harming a child (Richardson, 2004).
There is still a lot of debate around whether physical or corporal punishment of children by parents, caregivers or teachers, such as smacking, should be defined as child abuse. All states and territories legally allow a parent or guardian to administer reasonable physical punishment to a child (Tucci et al., 2002). However, laws prohibit parents from hitting children on the head or causing pain for more than a short period of time (Tucci et al., 2002).
Corporal punishment has been banned in government schools by legislation throughout Australia (Richardson, 2004).
Sexual Abuse
A commonly used definition of sexual abuse is: Any sexual activity between a child and an adult or older person (5 or more years older). Sexual activity can include any sexual behaviour including forcing children to watch pornography.
It has been noted that definitions including an age range rule out forced sexual activity between adolescents, for example date rape which would also be considered sexually abusive behaviour (Richardson, 2004).
Psychological or Emotional Abuse
The core issue of emotional (or psychological) abuse is that it is a sustained pattern of verbal abuse and harassment by an adult that results in damaging a child’s self esteem or social competence.
Although it is possible for ‘one-off’ incidents to cause serious harm, in general it is the frequency, persistence and duration of the parent or guardian’s behaviour that is instrumental in defining the consequences for the child. This may include rejecting, isolating, terrorising, ignoring or corrupting (Garbarino, 1978).
Neglect
Neglect refers to a consistent pattern of behaviours that involve failure to provide for a child’s basic needs. This category also includes fatalities that can be attributed to a caregiver’s neglect of the child’s needs (Lawrence & Irvine, 2004).
Categories of neglect include: Failure to meet the physical needs of the child: nutrition, hygiene, living environment and/ or supervision. Also: medical neglect, desertion, emotional neglect or educational neglect (Tomison, 1995).
Witnessing Family Violence
Witnessing family violence is generally considered to be a form of psychological abuse. However, there is growing support for the inclusion of family violence as a distinct maltreatment sub-type (James, 1994). Witnessing family violence, especially one’s mother being battered by one’s father, is clearly abusive and has been related to subsequent psychological disturbances (Briere, 1992).
Other Forms of Abuse:
Parental alcoholism and/or drug addiction is sometimes viewed as a distinct maltreatment sub-type (Briere, 1992).
Institutional abuse is sometimes viewed as a distinct maltreatment sub-type (ASCA, 2006).
Extreme poverty and homelessness are also sometimes viewed as a form of child abuse (Briere, 1992).
Other forms of childhood trauma:
Trauma is not limited to surviving life-threatening experiences. For a young person, trauma may be experienced in the form of separation from parents, looking into the eyes of a depressed mother, or being in a household with high level marital tension. For an adolescent, chronic stress and trauma may come from the incessant teasing of peers or taking care of the needs of an alcoholic parent (Cozolino, 2002). It seems that even an unborn child can experience stress as the result of the shared biological environment with its mother (Cozolino, 2002). Tests have found that foetuses express a biological response indicative of a stress response well before birth (Gunnar, 1998).
In a longitudinal study by Cogill, Caplan, Alexandra, Robson, & Kumar (1986),
94 women with mental health issues took part both before pregnancy and after they gave birth. Their first child’s cognitive function was tested at age 4. Significant intellectual deficits were found in the children whose mothers had suffered depression, but only when this depression occurred in the first year of the child's life. Marital conflict and a history of paternal psychiatric problems were also linked independently with lower cognitive test scores. Together with a working class home background these were the only factors that contributed significantly to the deleterious effect of maternal postnatal depression.
Various types of cruelty and deprivation provide a vast store of negative childhood experiences that, in turn, have significant impacts on the later mental health of millions of people (Briere, 1992).
INFORMATION FROM ASCA
ADULTS SURVIVING CHILD ABUSE
1. Prevalence
Child abuse remains prevalent, even today. The question remains: how prevalent? The social stigma around child abuse means that it gets swept under the carpet time and again. We know how many cases of abuse are being reported and how many cases are substantiated each year. However, it is impossible to know how many children are being abused every day but are too afraid to say anything.
In response to the growing awareness around child abuse, several laws have been set in place to protect children from further abuse. In every state in Australia mandatory reporting laws have been introduced (Higgins, Bromfield, & Richardson, 2007). These laws mandate that professionals who work with children are legally obliged to make a report about any child they suspect is in danger of abuse. These laws differ state-by-state, but are in place Australia-wide in some form. In spite of mandatory reporting laws, statistics suggest that child abuse remains prevalent.
In 2006-7, a total of 309,517 suspected cases of child abuse and neglect were reported. A total of 58,563 of these cases were substantiated (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008). The report found that girls were about three times more likely to be the subject of a substantiated sexual abuse claim than boys, but boys were generally more likely to be the subject of a substantiated claim of physical abuse than girls. In addition, the rates of substantiated abuse or neglect decreased as age increased (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2008).
The prevalence of child abuse is flagged by many other indicators. One of these is the numbers of calls to the Kid’s Help Line. Kid’s Help Line is a free, confidential and anonymous 24 hour counselling service for children and young people aged 5-25. Of calls made to the Kid’s Help Line, “Worry about a family member” was the most common reason for the call. Five % of calls were about child abuse or neglect (Kid’s Help Line, 2006).
A study by Draper et al. (2007) found that of 21,000 people over the age of 60 from 5 Australian states, 6.7% reported having been physically abused, 6.5% sexually, 10% reported either and 3% both (Draper et al., 2007). Research on a sample of randomly selected Australian women revealed that 20% of participants had experienced childhood sexual abuse (Fleming, 1997). Of those women, 71% were aged less than 12 years at the time of their abuse and only 10% of cases were ever reported. Andrews, Gould and Corry (2002) reported on the overall findings of seven studies and found that 5.1% of males and 27.5% of females had experienced some level of child sexual abuse.
Statistics suggest that child abuse is on the rise, but reporting may have increased rather than there being an actual increase in incidence. Perhaps adults are simply more aware of the warning signs of abuse now than ever before.
2. The Common Story
Andrews et al. (2002), who reported on the overall findings of seven studies, found that the onset of sexual abuse occurred at a mean age of 10. In 75% of cases the offender was known to the child, and in 40% of cases a family member was the offender.
A study by Palmer, Brown, Rae-Grant, & Loughin (2001) with 384 survivors of childhood abuse identified that most survivors reported a combination of abuse types: physical, emotional and sexual (45%); physical and emotional (21%); sexual and emotional (17%); sexual only (11%) and emotional only (6%). Survivors who could recall the age of onset of the abuse had been very young (between 4 and 6). The reported perpetrator were biological fathers (34%), biological mothers (19%), stepfathers, adoptive fathers and foster fathers (8%); stepmothers, adoptive mothers and foster mothers (5%); both parents equally (7%); other relative (14%); and siblings (10%).
A study by van Loon & Kralik (2005a) with female survivors of child sexual abuse found that the life of child sexual abuse survivors is often interwoven with emotional abuse and physical violence. Many participants in this study experienced assaults within their childhood families. These were usually not isolated events, but rather were sustained patterns of Behaviour, endured over many years. Most women recalled their earliest memories of sexual abuse between the ages of 5 and 8 years. Participants’ backgrounds varied across rural, remote and metropolitan settings and all social strata were represented, including professional, paraprofessional and working class families. There was an over-representation of perpetrators who were in positions of legally sanctioned authority. The participants in this study reported compounding social issues within the childhood family that included fragmentation of the family through divorce, family violence, alcohol and drug addictions, and mental illness. In most cases the family presented to the outside world as “normal”. Family relationships were characterised by intimidation, fear, shame, blame, secrecy and isolation, to avoid exposing the family to scrutiny. The victims were silenced by fear of the consequences of divulging the family secret. Perpetrators made excuses to avoid taking responsibility for their abusive actions and most commonly the child was blamed for somehow provoking, or enjoying the abuse. Unfortunately when children do tell, and the offending perpetrator denies their actions, it is often the perpetrator who is believed rather than the child. If the adult to whom the child discloses does not take any action the child may conclude that he/she is not worthwhile, or must be to blame. It reinforces the child’s distrust of adults and causes more entrenched silence, isolation, internalised anger, which quickly leads to despair and possibly to mental illness. Survivors suggest that while children need to be educated about stranger danger, most abuse is perpetrated by a person the child knows. Consequently the child also needs to be taught to say ‘no’ to uninvited and unwanted behaviours. However children find it almost impossible to have a voice to which their perpetrator/s will listen (van Loon & Kralik, 2005a).
3. What is Child Abuse?
Child abuse is any act by parents, caregivers or guardians that endangers a child’s physical or emotional health or development. Child abuse can be a single incident, but usually takes place over time (Richardson, 2004).
Definitions of abuse remain ambiguous. What is abusive behaviour for one person is not necessarily abusive to another. Acceptability around behaviour varies widely from one social group to another (Tucci, Saunders, & Goddard, 2002) and from culture to culture (Korbin, 1991). That said, some behaviours are objectively deleterious to the healthy development of a child regardless of the definition of the abuse or the culture. Although the definition of abuse remains contentious, it is common practice to talk about five different types of abuse:
Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Emotional/ Psychological Abuse
Neglect (Bromfield & Holzer, 2007)
Witnessing family violence (James, 1994)
It is important to note that children are often exposed to harmful behaviours from one or more of these categories of abuse (Higgins & McCabe, 2000). The nature of the abuse and the duration of exposure of harmful behaviours may affect the long-term effects of the abuse into adulthood (Higgins, 2004). Nonetheless, the type and duration of abuse are not the only factors determining the long-term effects of the abuse. A number of factors which impact resilience should also be considered (this will be explored under ‘resilience’).
Physical Abuse
Child physical abuse takes place when a parent or caregiver causes physical injury deliberately by punching, hitting, kicking, beating, biting, burning, shaking or otherwise harming a child (Richardson, 2004).
There is still a lot of debate around whether physical or corporal punishment of children by parents, caregivers or teachers, such as smacking, should be defined as child abuse. All states and territories legally allow a parent or guardian to administer reasonable physical punishment to a child (Tucci et al., 2002). However, laws prohibit parents from hitting children on the head or causing pain for more than a short period of time (Tucci et al., 2002).
Corporal punishment has been banned in government schools by legislation throughout Australia (Richardson, 2004).
Sexual Abuse
A commonly used definition of sexual abuse is: Any sexual activity between a child and an adult or older person (5 or more years older). Sexual activity can include any sexual behaviour including forcing children to watch pornography.
It has been noted that definitions including an age range rule out forced sexual activity between adolescents, for example date rape which would also be considered sexually abusive behaviour (Richardson, 2004).
Psychological or Emotional Abuse
The core issue of emotional (or psychological) abuse is that it is a sustained pattern of verbal abuse and harassment by an adult that results in damaging a child’s self esteem or social competence.
Although it is possible for ‘one-off’ incidents to cause serious harm, in general it is the frequency, persistence and duration of the parent or guardian’s behaviour that is instrumental in defining the consequences for the child. This may include rejecting, isolating, terrorising, ignoring or corrupting (Garbarino, 1978).
Neglect
Neglect refers to a consistent pattern of behaviours that involve failure to provide for a child’s basic needs. This category also includes fatalities that can be attributed to a caregiver’s neglect of the child’s needs (Lawrence & Irvine, 2004).
Categories of neglect include: Failure to meet the physical needs of the child: nutrition, hygiene, living environment and/ or supervision. Also: medical neglect, desertion, emotional neglect or educational neglect (Tomison, 1995).
Witnessing Family Violence
Witnessing family violence is generally considered to be a form of psychological abuse. However, there is growing support for the inclusion of family violence as a distinct maltreatment sub-type (James, 1994). Witnessing family violence, especially one’s mother being battered by one’s father, is clearly abusive and has been related to subsequent psychological disturbances (Briere, 1992).
Other Forms of Abuse:
Parental alcoholism and/or drug addiction is sometimes viewed as a distinct maltreatment sub-type (Briere, 1992).
Institutional abuse is sometimes viewed as a distinct maltreatment sub-type (ASCA, 2006).
Extreme poverty and homelessness are also sometimes viewed as a form of child abuse (Briere, 1992).
Other forms of childhood trauma:
Trauma is not limited to surviving life-threatening experiences. For a young person, trauma may be experienced in the form of separation from parents, looking into the eyes of a depressed mother, or being in a household with high level marital tension. For an adolescent, chronic stress and trauma may come from the incessant teasing of peers or taking care of the needs of an alcoholic parent (Cozolino, 2002). It seems that even an unborn child can experience stress as the result of the shared biological environment with its mother (Cozolino, 2002). Tests have found that foetuses express a biological response indicative of a stress response well before birth (Gunnar, 1998).
In a longitudinal study by Cogill, Caplan, Alexandra, Robson, & Kumar (1986),
94 women with mental health issues took part both before pregnancy and after they gave birth. Their first child’s cognitive function was tested at age 4. Significant intellectual deficits were found in the children whose mothers had suffered depression, but only when this depression occurred in the first year of the child's life. Marital conflict and a history of paternal psychiatric problems were also linked independently with lower cognitive test scores. Together with a working class home background these were the only factors that contributed significantly to the deleterious effect of maternal postnatal depression.
Various types of cruelty and deprivation provide a vast store of negative childhood experiences that, in turn, have significant impacts on the later mental health of millions of people (Briere, 1992).
INFORMATION FROM ASCA
ADULTS SURVIVING CHILD ABUSE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Compiled by Leah Bromfield & Mel Irenyi
National Child Protection Clearinghouse
Published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies
ISSN 1448-9112 (Online) You can access this resource sheet in HTML or PDF (240 KB) format. You will need an Acrobat Reader which is free from the Adobe Systems Web site . In this resource sheet we present and discuss a snapshot of data describing child protection activity in Australia. In Australia, state and territory governments have the statutory responsibility for protecting children from child abuse and neglect. Definitions of what constitutes child abuse and neglect vary across the different states and territories. It is therefore difficult to obtain consistent and comparable national statistics. (For more information on this, refer to Resource Sheet No. 12, Australian Legal Definitions: When is a Child in Need of Protection?). Since 1990, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has compiled annual national figures for child protection activity. The 2009 AIHW statistics can be found at www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10687 The most recent national figures from the AIHW indicate that in Australia, during 2007-08, there were 317,526 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect made to state and territory authorities. While the number of notifications increased, the increase observed was not as great as that observed between previous reporting periods. In fact, the increase observed between 2006-07 and 2007-08 is the smallest national increase recorded for total notifications over the past 10 years. Figure 1 illustrates the trends in total notifications recorded across Australia from 1998-99 to 2007-08. Table 1 contains the numbers plotted in Figure 1. 
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2009) Notes: (a) The Northern Territory could not provide substantiation data in 1998-99. (b) Due to the implementation of a new information management system, New South Wales could not provide data for investigations, substantiations, or children on orders in 2003-04. (c) Due to the implementation of a new information management system, Queensland was unable to provide investigation data in 2006-07. The figures do not necessarily mean that the amount of child abuse and neglect that occurs in the community has increased over this time, but they do show that the reporting of cases to child protection services has increased.
Source: AIHW (2009) Notes: (a) The Northern Territory could not provide substantiation data in 1998-99. (b) Due to the implementation of a new information management system, New South Wales could not provide data for investigations, substantiations or children on orders in 2003-04. (c) Due to the implementation of a new information management system, Queensland was unable to provide investigation data in 2006-07. The total number of finalised investigations increased in 2007-08, with 148,824 total finalised investigations recorded across Australia (AIHW, 2009). Due to the implementation of a new information management system, Queensland was not able to provide data on the number of finalised investigations in 2006-07, thus a national total could not be calculated for the 2006-07 financial year. However, the 2007-08 figure is an increase of 8% on the number of finalised investigations recorded in 2005-06 (137,829), and a 198% increase on the number of finalised investigations recorded in 1998-99 (50,009) (see Figure 1). The pattern for total substantiations in 2007-08 differed from the pattern observed for notifications and investigations. The total number of substantiations (of notifications received in 2007-08) across Australia was 55,120. This is an 8% decrease on the number of substantiations recorded in the previous financial year (60,230). The 55,120 notifications recorded during the financial year concerned 32,098 children. The decrease in the total number of substantiations recorded in Australia was the first decrease recorded for total substantiations over the past 10 years. As can be seen from Figure 1, overall, the number of total substantiations increased between 1999-00 and 2007-08 (by approximately 123%). The decrease in substantiations was also not present in all jurisdictions - Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory all recorded increases in total substantiations recorded for 2007-08 (see Table 2). As the AIHW (2009) observed, further years' data are necessary to determine whether the decrease in 2007-08 will be a continuing pattern.
(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 was updated in 2008. Data is different to the interim data published in Child Protection Australia 2006-07. (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. Notes (1) Data may include unborn children. (2) Data is not reported for Tasmania for unborn children since the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1997 does not currently enable Tasmania to accept reports on unborn children. It is anticipated that such reports will be able to be accepted from July 2009 following an amendment to the current act. Source: AIHW, 2009, p. 25; AIHW, 2001, p. 15 Substantiations are categorised into one of four maltreatment types: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Table 3 shows the breakdown of substantiations for the four different types of maltreatment in Australian states and territories. In New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory emotional abuse was the most commonly substantiated maltreatment type. In Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory neglect was the most commonly substantiated maltreatment type, however emotional abuse was the second most common type of maltreatment substantiated.
Source: AIHW (2009, p. 69) The maltreatment types most commonly substantiated across Australia were emotional abuse and child neglect (see Figure 2). Emotionally abusive behaviours include verbally abusing, terrorising, scape goating, isolating, rejecting, and ignoring. Children who witness domestic violence are also typically categorised as having experienced emotional abuse. The high proportion of substantiations of emotional abuse is a relatively new phenomenon (AIHW, 2009). The inclusion of children who have witnessed domestic violence is likely to be one of the key reasons for the high rates of substantiated emotional abuse (Holzer & Bromfield, 2008). 
Source: AIHW (2009, p. 69) In all jurisdictions, girls were much more likely than boys to be the subject of a substantiation of sexual abuse. In Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, three times as many girls were subject to a substantiation of sexual abuse than boys. The rates of substantiated abuse or neglect decreased as age increased. Children aged between0-4 years 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 6 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 has risen each year from 1998 to 2008. There were 31,166 children in out-of-home care on 30 June 2008. 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 (94%). 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, 48% were in foster care, 45% were in relative/kinship care, and 1% were in some other type of home-based care. A small proportion of children (5%) removed from their homes were placed in residential care where staff were paid to care for them. Children in residential care were considerably older than children in home-based care, with 43% aged between 10-14 years and a further 42% aged between 15-17 years. At 30 June 2008, there were 9,074 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care. The national rate of Indigenous children in out-of-home care was almost 9 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 AIHW statistics show that notifications most commonly came from police, hospitals and health centres, and school personnel. Child protection statistics tells us how many children come into contact with child protection services. It is the only data routinely collected in Australia that gives an idea of the number of children experiencing child abuse and neglect. However there are several problems (see box inset for a discussion) with these data that result in some children who: Child protection statistics are the best available indicator of the extent of the problem of child abuse and neglect in Australia, but they do not tell us how many children in the community have been abused or neglected. The limitations of child protection statistics as an indicator for child maltreatment incidence
Traditionally, child protection data have been perceived as a conservative estimate of the occurrence of child maltreatment (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004). Child abuse and neglect often goes undetected due to the private nature of the crime, the difficulties children experience in making disclosures and being believed, and lack of evidence to substantiate the crime (Irenyi, 2007). Child protection data only includes those cases of abuse and neglect that were detected and reported and is therefore likely to be an underestimation of the number of children abused or neglected.
In addition to the under-reporting of abuse and neglect, system issues may also contribute to the underestimation of the number who are abused or neglected. Child protection data exclude cases where the abuse or neglect was not perpetrated by the parent and the parent is protecting the child (e.g., child sexually abused by a non-family member who lives in the community) (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004). These cases are generally considered to be a police not a child protection matter.
Child protection data also include some children who were not abused or neglected:
• reports to child protection include cases in which children need care and protection, but the children have not been abused or neglected (e.g., parent hospitalised and there is no one to care for the child) (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004); and
• child protection data include cases in which the state became involved to protect children who were at risk of being abused or neglected, but had not yet experienced any maltreatment (e.g., mother's new partner is a known child sex offender) (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004).
The total number of notifications and substantiations reported by child protection services in any given year will also include some children who are reported to child protection services more than once in a twelve month period. Each new notification or substantiation does not necessarily represent a different child (AIHW, 2009).
Finally, it is worth noting that child protection data reflects only those families reported to child protection services. Economically disadvantaged families are more likely to come in contact with, and therefore under the scrutiny of, public authorities. This means that it is more likely that abuse and neglect will be identified in economically disadvanatged families if it is present (Beckett, 2003).
Other countries such as Canada, the US and the UK have undertaken national prevalence or incidence studies to enable more accurate estimates of how much abuse and neglect occurs in the community. "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. 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 No. 22). Retrieved 19 February 2009, from http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/issues/issues22/issues22.html 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 19 February 2009, 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 19 February 2009, from http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs12/rs12.html Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2009). Child protection Australia 2007-08. Canberra: Author. Retrieved 19 February 2009, from http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10687 Beckett, C. (2003). Child protection: An introduction. London: SAGE Publications. Bromfield, L. M., & Higgins, D. J. (2004). The limitations of using statutory child protection data for research into child maltreatment. Australian Social Work, 57(1), 19-30. Holzer, P. J., & Bromfield, L. M. (2008). NCPASS comparability of child protection data: Project report. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies. Retrieved 22 January 2009, from: http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/reports/ncpass/ncpass.pdf Irenyi, M. (2007). Responding to children and young people's disclosures of abuse (NCPC Practice Brief 2). Retrieved 19 February 2009, from http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/brief/pb2/pb2.html
Return to Resource Sheets Menu
Resource Sheet No.1
Updated March 2009
Updated March 2009
Child abuse and neglect statistics
National Child Protection Clearinghouse
Published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies
ISSN 1448-9112 (Online)
How many reports are made to child protection services in Australia each year?
Figure 1. Total number of notifications, investigations and substantiations across Australia from 1998-99 to 2007-08, and total number of children on orders and in out-of-home care at 30 June 1999 to 2008
A child may be the subject of more than one notification - in 2007-08, the 317,526 notifications recorded during the financial year concerned 194,937 children. Nationally, notifications were most commonly made by members of the police force, followed by school personnel, and hospital/health centre staff (AIHW, 2009). Table 1: Total number of notifications, investigations and substantiations across Australia from 1998-99 to 2007-08, and total number of children on orders and in out-of-home care at 30 June 1999 to 2008
| Total notifications | Total finalised investigations | Total substantiations | Children on orders | Children in OOHC | |
| 1998-99 | 103,302 | 50,009 | (a) | 17,881 | 15,674 |
| 1999-00 | 107,134 | 47,007 | 24,732 | 19,262 | 16,923 |
| 2000-01 | 115,471 | 66,265 | 27,367 | 19,917 | 18,241 |
| 2001-02 | 137,938 | 80,371 | 30,473 | 20,557 | 18,880 |
| 2002-03 | 198,355 | 95,382 | 40,416 | 22,130 | 20,297 |
| 2003-04 | 219,384 | (b) | (b) | (b) | 21,795 |
| 2004-05 | 252,831 | 121,292 | 46,154 | 25,065 | 23,695 |
| 2005-06 | 266,745 | 137,829 | 55,921 | 27,188 | 25,454 |
| 2006-07 | 309,448 | (c) | 60,230 | 29,641 | 28,379 |
| 2007-08 | 317,526 | 148,824 | 55,120 | 34,279 | 31,166 |
How many reports are investigated by child protection services in Australia each year?
How many confirmed cases of abuse and neglect are there in Australia each year?
Table 2: Number of substantiations, states and territories, 1999-2000 to 2007-08
| Year | NSW(a) | Vic | Qld | WA | SA | Tas(b) | ACT | NT | Total |
| 1998-99 | 7,540 | 7,251 | 6,373 | 1,215 | 2,114 | 128 | 442 | n.a. | n.a. |
| 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) | 10,108(g)(h) | 1,233 | 2,242 | 1,252(e) | 852(i) | 621 | 60,230 |
| 2007-08 | 34,135 | 6,365 | 8,028 | 1,464 | 2,331 | 1,214 | 827 | 756 | 55,120 |
What are the most common types of child maltreatment?
Table 3. Primary substantiated maltreatment types in Australian states and territories in 2007-08
| NSW | Vic | Qld | WA | SA | Tas | ACT | NT | Australia | |
| Emotional abuse | 13,106 | 2,814 | 2,955 | 304 | 1,106 | 429 | 382 | 214 | 21,310 |
| Neglect | 10,429 | 634 | 2,286 | 621 | 881 | 491 | 314 | 260 | 15,916 |
| Physical abuse | 6,725 | 2,507 | 2,182 | 280 | 249 | 212 | 86 | 162 | 12,403 |
| Sexual abuse | 3,875 | 410 | 605 | 259 | 95 | 82 | 45 | 120 | 5,491 |
| Total | 34,135 | 6,365 | 8,028 | 1,464 | 2,331 | 1,214 | 827 | 756 | 55,120 |
Figure 2. Percentage breakdown of primary substantiated maltreatment types in Australia in 2007-08
Neglect refers to the failure (usually by the parent) to provide for a child's basic needs, including failure to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, supervision, hygiene or medical attention. The high rates of neglect are consistent with the disadvantaged socio-economic conditions prevalent in many families referred to child protection services (Becket, 2003). What do the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics tell us about the characteristics of children who are the subject of reports?
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, how many children are removed and live in out-of-home care?
- foster care - where care is provided in the private home of a substitute family that receives payment that is intended to cover the child's living expenses;
- relative/kinship care - where the caregiver is a family member or a person with a pre-existing relationship with the child; and
- other home-based care - care in private homes that does not fit into the above categories.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics, who makes reports to child protection authorities?
Do child protection statistics tell us how many children are abused or neglected in Australia?
- have been abused or neglected not being included in child protection statistics; and
- have not been abused or neglect being included in child protection statistics.
Traditionally, child protection data have been perceived as a conservative estimate of the occurrence of child maltreatment (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004). Child abuse and neglect often goes undetected due to the private nature of the crime, the difficulties children experience in making disclosures and being believed, and lack of evidence to substantiate the crime (Irenyi, 2007). Child protection data only includes those cases of abuse and neglect that were detected and reported and is therefore likely to be an underestimation of the number of children abused or neglected.
In addition to the under-reporting of abuse and neglect, system issues may also contribute to the underestimation of the number who are abused or neglected. Child protection data exclude cases where the abuse or neglect was not perpetrated by the parent and the parent is protecting the child (e.g., child sexually abused by a non-family member who lives in the community) (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004). These cases are generally considered to be a police not a child protection matter.
Child protection data also include some children who were not abused or neglected:
• reports to child protection include cases in which children need care and protection, but the children have not been abused or neglected (e.g., parent hospitalised and there is no one to care for the child) (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004); and
• child protection data include cases in which the state became involved to protect children who were at risk of being abused or neglected, but had not yet experienced any maltreatment (e.g., mother's new partner is a known child sex offender) (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004).
The total number of notifications and substantiations reported by child protection services in any given year will also include some children who are reported to child protection services more than once in a twelve month period. Each new notification or substantiation does not necessarily represent a different child (AIHW, 2009).
Finally, it is worth noting that child protection data reflects only those families reported to child protection services. Economically disadvantaged families are more likely to come in contact with, and therefore under the scrutiny of, public authorities. This means that it is more likely that abuse and neglect will be identified in economically disadvanatged families if it is present (Beckett, 2003).
Other countries such as Canada, the US and the UK have undertaken national prevalence or incidence studies to enable more accurate estimates of how much abuse and neglect occurs in the community. "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.
Additional online readings and research available from the Clearinghouse web site
References
Last modified 29 April, 2010^ Top
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| MEDIA RELEASE | ||
| June 3, 2010 | Embargo: 11.30 am (AEDT) | 65/2010 |
| One in four sexual assault victims were children aged 10 to 14 years: ABS During 2009 there were 18,800 victims of sexual assault recorded by police, with 25% of these victims aged 10 to 14 years, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The victimisation rate for all sexual assault victims aged 10-14 was 4 times higher than the rate for all age groups (338 victims per 100,000 people aged 10-14 compared with 86 victims per 100,000 people). Female and male victims of sexual assault aged 10-14 both had victimisation rates 4 times higher than the rate for all females and males (579 female victims per 100,000 females aged 10- 14 compared with the overall rate of 144 female victims per 100,000 females; and 108 male victims per 100,000 males aged 10-14 compared with the overall rate of 26 male victims per 100,000 males.) The majority (84%) of all sexual assault victims were female. Females were also the most prevalent victims of kidnapping/abduction (55%), while males were the most prevalent victims of robbery (75%), attempted murder (74%), murder (71%), and blackmail/extortion (69%). Between 2008 and 2009, the number of victims recorded by police of blackmail/extortion offences increased by 60% (equating to a victimisation rate in 2009 of 3 victims per 100,000 people). The number of victims increased marginally for the personal offences of murder (1%) and attempted murder (1%), and decreased for manslaughter (-6%), sexual assault (-2%), kidnapping/abduction (-19%) and robbery (-5%). Selected property offences in 2009 (unlawful entry with intent, motor vehicle theft and other theft) all decreased from 2008. Of the selected personal offences, weapons were mainly used in murders, attempted murders, and robberies. A knife was the most common weapon used in committing these offences: 37% of attempted murder victims; 36% of murder victims; and 19% of robbery victims were subjected to an offence involving a knife. Residential locations were the most common place of occurrence for the offences of unlawful entry with intent (68%), sexual assault (67%), murder (65%), attempted murder (62%), and motor vehicle theft (40%). The street/footpath was the most prevalent location where victims were robbed (46%) and kidnapped/abducted (45%). Media note: This publication presents national crime statistics relating to victims of a selected range of personal and property offences that have been recorded by police during 2009. Caution should be exercised in comparing 2009 data to prior years due to business process changes. More details are available in Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia, 2009 (cat. no. 4510.0). Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source. |
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