Overview

In Australia, statutory child protection is the responsibility of state and territory governments. Departments responsible for child protection provide assistance to vulnerable children who are suspected of being abused, neglected or harmed, or whose parents are unable to provide adequate care or protection.

More reports and statistics on child protection can be found under Adoptions and Children & youth.

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Latest findings

58% of children aged 10–17 under youth justice supervision had received child protection services in the last 5 years

8 per 1,000 children aged 0–17 are in out-of-home care

58 per 1,000 Indigenous children and young people aged 0–17 are in out-of-home care

Between 2016–17 and 2020–21, the rate of children subject to substantiations remained stable at 9 per 1,000

63% of Indigenous children in out-of-home care were living with relatives/kin or other Indigenous caregivers

Between 2016–17 and 2020–21, the rate of children subject to notifications increased from 43 to 52 per 1,000

Highlights

Emotional abusewas the most common primary type of substantiated abuse or neglect (55%)
1 in 32children received child protection services
Of the 5,400 children reunified, nearly 1 in 3 (31%) were Indigenous children
More than 46,200children were in out-of-home care at 30 June 2021
63% of Indigenous childrenin out-of-home care were living with relatives/kin or other Indigenous caregivers
58,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children received child protection services
17% of children in out-of-home care achieved a permanency outcome
91%of children in out-of-home care were placed in home-based care