Child, parent and contextual factors associated with child protection system involvement and child maltreatment in the family: A rapid evidence review

Child abuse and neglect in the home is a prevalent and significant issue in Australia. Recent findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study revealed that 62.2 per cent of participants had experienced at least one type of maltreatment during childhood, with most reporting multi-type maltreatment. This rapid evidence review was aimed at understanding factors associated with child abuse and neglect in the family context. Results from the included studies indicated that there is a complex interplay between various child-related factors, parent or family characteristics and contextual factors in understanding child maltreatment. Implications for a reliance on proxy measures of child maltreatment, including involvement with child protection systems, are also considered. A key finding across the included studies was that parent characteristics were consistently identified and should be a key target for prevention. Further research is needed to explore the role of parenting capacity and skills in the prevention of harm, the intersection between associated factors, how protective factors and strength-based approaches can inform prevention efforts and how policies and practices can be designed to appropriately address this issue.