The latest data on three areas of child protection services -
child abuse and neglect; children on care and protection orders;
and children in out of home care - are contained in Child
Protection Australia 1996-97, to be released by the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare on Friday.
The report includes data from all States and Territories, but
does not include national data for child abuse and neglect. One of
the report's authors, Ms Helen Johnstone said that this is because
data from New South Wales were not available for the full period
covered by the report and differences between States in policies
and practices affect the comparability of data. 'It's very
important that people take great care when comparing data for the
different states and territories.'
The number of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect in
1996-97 did not vary significantly from the previous year. The
number of substantiated cases, excluding New South Wales, was 16,
310 in 1996-97, an increase of 3% compared with 1995-96. Of these,
32% were physical abuse, 26% emotional abuse, 13% sexual abuse and
29% neglect.
As at 30 June 1997, 15,700 children were on care and protection
orders, the majority of them (75%) were on guardianship or custody
orders, with the remaining on supervisory, interim, temporary and
other orders. There were 14,100 children in out of home care at 30
June 1997, 89% were in home based care. The majority of children in
out of home care were also on a care and protection order.
Indigenous children were over-represented in each of the child
protection services. For example, the rate of Indigenous children
in substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect was 26 per 1,000
and 12 per 1,000 in South Australia and Queensland respectively,
compared with less than 6 per thousand and under 4 for other
children.
Overall, 3.3 children per 1,000 were on care and protection
orders in Australia at 30 June 1997. The rate for Indigenous
children was almost 15 per thousand. Of children in out of home
care, the rate for Indigenous children at 30 June 1997 was around
16 per thousand compared with 2.5 for other children.
Ms Johnstone said the differences between the rates of
Indigenous and other children represented in the data could not be
attributed to any single cause. 'As the literature shows, there are
many and complex reasons for this over-representation. Poverty and
unemployment, parental health problems, and lack of adequate
support services for Indigenous families could be some of the
reasons.'
28 August 1998
Further information: Helen Johnstone, ph. 02
6244 1157.
For media copies of the report: Lena Searle, ph.
02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for details.