This fact sheet presents statistics on child abuse and protection in Australia and explains the interpretation and limitations of this data. Data are collected separately by the different states and territories in Australia, with differing definitions of child abuse and neglect. However, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare compiles an annual report on the number of cases of child abuse reported to state child protection departments. Based on this data for 2000/2001 to 2010/2011, this fact sheet discusses the number of reports of suspected child maltreatment, the number of notifications that are investigated, the number of number of substantiations/confirmed cases of child maltreatment, the most common types of child maltreatment, and child removal to out-of-home care.
"This paper was updated by Lalitha Nair [and] Deborah Scott."
Replaces the NCPC resource sheet 'Child abuse and neglect statistics', which was first produced in February 2005 by the National Child Protection Clearinghouse. Previous editions have been compiled by Katie Kovacs and Nick Richardson (2005), Leah Bromfield and Mel Irenyi (2009), and Leah Bromfield and Briony Horsfall (2010).
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