Child protection Australia 2018–19

Publication

Release Date: 18 Mar 2020

Topic: Child protection

Media release

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2020) Child protection Australia 2018–19, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 29 April 2024.

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2020). Child protection Australia 2018–19. Canberra: AIHW.

MLA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Child protection Australia 2018–19. AIHW, 2020.

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Child protection Australia 2018–19. Canberra: AIHW; 2020.

Harvard

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2020, Child protection Australia 2018–19, AIHW, Canberra.

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During 2018–19, 170,200 (30 per 1,000) Australian children received child protection services (investigation, care and protection order and/or were in out-of-home care). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 8 times as likely as non-Indigenous children to have received child protection services. Children from geographically remote areas were more likely to be the subject of a substantiation, or be in out-of-home care than those from major cities. Over 3,700 children were reunified with family during 2018–19.

A complimentary data visualisation report Child protection Australia: children in the child protection system is also available.

ISSN: 2205 5037
ISBN: 978 1 76054 677 9
Cat. no: CWS 74
Pages: 161

Findings from this report:

1 in 33 children received child protection services
68% of children who received child protection services were repeat clients
30,300 children have been in out-of-home care for 2 years or more
Children from Very remote areas are 3 times as likely as those from Major cities to be the subject of a substantiation

Notes

Amendments

1 November 2023

Report:

On page 23, in Table 3.2, data in the Physical abuse column have been revised.
On page 40, the proportion of children on orders who were under 5 living in family care, third-party parental care, or home-based care was changed from 69% to 96% to correct a typographical error.
On page 81, in-text references to the supplementary tables were corrected and text relating to the proportion of children who achieved a finalised care and protection order within 12 months was updated.

Data tables:

Data in Table 3.2 was corrected.
Minor corrections were made to the titles for data tables 5.2, S6.11 and T3.
An additional footnote was added to data table S5.8 relating to New South Wales disability data.
An additional footnote was added to data table T3 indicating that the totals include unknowns.