Uncovering physical harm in cases of reported child maltreatment

Background

Child protection statutes are designed to protect children from harm, yet there is surprisingly limited information available about injuries or other forms of harm documented in cases of reported child maltreatment.

Objective

To examine trends in the rate of substantiated child maltreatment investigations in Canada involving physical harm over a twenty-year period.

Participants and Setting

The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) is a cyclical study which uses a file review methodology to collect information about child maltreatment-related investigations from child protection workers across Canada.

Methods

We conducted secondary analysis of data from three cycles of the CIS (1998, 2008, and 2019). Because information on physical harm was not available from Quebec during the 2019 cycle, we limited the analyses to the rest of Canada, excluding Quebec.

Findings

The rate of child maltreatment-related investigations has more than doubled between 1998 and 2019 from 24.53 to 56.03 investigations per 1000 children. Rates of substantiated maltreatment have also increased (from 10.21 to 17.56 investigations per 1000 children), while the rate of substantiated investigations involving documented physical harm has decreased (from 1.81 to 0.79 investigations per 1000 children).

Conclusion

Child protection agencies in Canada are identifying less physical harm than they were two decades ago although the overall rate of investigations has increased in the same time period. A better understanding of the scope of injuries and the profile of children and families investigated is essential to understanding the extent to which child protection systems are effectively meeting their duty to protect.