Child protection

Child protection is the responsibility of the state and territory departments in the community services sector. Children who come into contact with departments responsible for child protection include those:

• who are suspected of being, have been or are being abused, neglected or otherwise harmed
• whose parents are unable to provide adequate care or protection.

The AIHW collects annual statistics on child protection in Australia from each state and territory department responsible for child protection. These data are then used to produce Child Protection Australia and are also provided to the Productivity Commission for the Report on Government Services.

The National Child Protection and Support Services (NCPASS) data group has responsibility for overseeing the national child protection data and includes representatives from each state and territory and from the AIHW.

Child protection Australia

The AIHW child protection reports provide the latest available annual and trend data on children who come into contact with the state and territory departments responsible for child protection. The four areas of the child protection system for which national data are reported are:

• child protection notifications, investigations and substantiations
• children on care and protection orders
• children in out-of-home care
• intensive family support services.

The most recent full report is  Child Protection Australia 2005-06. New reports are usually released around the end of January each year. For previous editions, visit the publication list.

Report on Government Services

The AIHW also provides selected child protection data to the Productivity Commission for use in the Report on Government Services. This report is used to measure the performance of state and territory government departments using key performance indicators.

Data collection standards, tables and counting rules

Use this link to access the most recent (2006-07) data collection standards, tables and counting rules for the child protection collection.

Other reports

Educational outcomes of children on guardianship and custody orders: a pilot study (June 2007)

This report provides a snapshot of the academic performance, as assessed by literacy and numeracy test scores, of children on guardianship or custody orders in 2003. The educational performance of these children are compared with all children sitting these tests, and differences in academic performance between particular subgroups of children on guardianship/custody orders are also examined. This pilot project involved interdepartmental linkage (education and community services departments) of administrative data across multiple jurisdictions-the first Australian study in this field to have done so.

Child protection and out-of-home care performance indicators (October 2006)

This report describes the history of child protection and out-of-home care performance indicators as well as the current performance indicator framework used in Australia, where service performance is assessed in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. The data used to populate these indicators come from a variety of sources. The Productivity Commission, in its role as Secretariat for the Review of Government Service Provision, collects some data directly from the states and territories while other data are supplied via the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Eight effectiveness indicators are discussed in this report. An overview of how each state and territory is performing against these indicators is provided. Factors which might affect the effectiveness of service provision, including policy, legislation, funding and resources, are also discussed to help explain data trends. The report concludes with a discussion of future directions for the performance indicator framework in the area of child protection and out-of-home care in Australia.

Guidelines for interpretation of child protection and out-of-home care performance indicators (April 2002)

In 2001, Lyn Gain was commissioned to develop guidelines for interpreting the indicators reported in the Report on Government Services. The guidelines for interpretation of child protection and out-of-home care performance indicators are not definitive and should be used as a guide only. The aim of these guidelines is to provide some context and background information to assist in interpreting the performance indicators. .

Family support services in Australia 2000 (April 2001)

The area of family support services has been identified by the National Community Services Information Management Group (NCSIMG) as a priority area for data development. In 1999, the NCSIMG received funding from the Community Services Ministers' Advisory Council (CSMAC now Community and Disability Services Ministers' Advisory Council) and the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services (now the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) to undertake a scoping study of family support services. This study was conducted in the first half of 2000 and the final report presented to the NCSIMG in October of that year. This report provides information on family support services funded and/or provided by Commonwealth and state and territory community services departments and presents a broad overview of family support services data collections in the various jurisdictions.

Additionally, a data collection on intensive family support services was commenced for the year 1999-00. These are services which aim to prevent imminent separation of children from their primary caregivers because of child protection concerns, or to reunify families where separation has already occurred. These services are funded explicitly to prevent separation or to facilitate reunification and are intensive in nature, averaging 8-10 hours per week for up to 6 months. These data appear in the annual Report on Government Services and Child protection Australia reports.

Comparability of Child Protection Data (1999)

In 1998, Rosemary Cant and Rick Downie from Social Systems and Evaluation produced a report on behalf of the National Child Protection and Support Services (NCPASS) data group on the comparability of the child protection data systems across the jurisdictions. The aim of the project was to improve the comparability of the national child protection data collected by the AIHW by mapping the similarities and differences in child protection data across jurisdictions and making proposals for moving towards greater comparability of these data.

More recently, the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has undertaken a data comparability project aimed at better identification of the reasons for differences in child protection data between and within jurisdictions across time. The report on this project is due for release in the first quarter of 2008.

Last reviewed by  January 2008