Child protection is an Australia's welfare topic

Child protection refers to preventing and responding to violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect, and harmful practices against children (UNICEF 2021). When children cannot live safely at home, child protection systems prioritise children’s physical, mental and psychosocial needs to safeguard their lives and futures (UNICEF 2021). Child protection functions to protect the fundamental rights of children which include safety, freedom from violence and a stable family environment (UN General Assembly 1989).

The child protection system aims to protect children from maltreatment in family settings.

Child maltreatment is the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power (WHO 2020).

For more information, see The process of determining child maltreatment.

The child protection system

In Australia, state and territory governments are responsible for statutory child protection. Relevant departments support vulnerable children:

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

This report looks at children aged under 18 years who came into contact with the child protection system in 2023–24. This includes being:

  • subjects of investigations for alleged child maltreatment notifications
  • on a care and protection order, which gives child protection departments partial or full legal responsibility for their welfare
  • placed in out-of-home care as they were unable to live at home due to child safety concerns.

For more information, see Supporting children. 

Children in the child protection system

In 2023–24, around 1 in 31 (179,000) Australian children aged under 18 came into contact with the child protection system. About 1 in 137 (42,100) Australian children aged under 18 became subjects of substantiated maltreatment. That is, an investigation concluded that they were being, or were at risk of being, maltreated (CPA 2023–24: Insights, data tables 2.2 and S3.3).

Table 1: Summary of children in the child protection system, 2023–24

Component of the child protection system

Number of events

Number of children

Notifications of alleged maltreatment

530,000

307,000

Notifications resolved by means other than an investigation

322,000

171,000

Investigations of alleged maltreatment notifications

196,000

121,000

Substantiated maltreatment

56,800

42,100

Not substantiated allegation of maltreatment

74,000

56,200

Investigation in process

52,500

12,300

Care and protection orders

39,000

70,100

Out-of-home care placements

122,000

55,300

Child protection system

357,000

179,000

Notes

  1. ‘Number of events’ includes the total occurrences of the specific component of the child protection system.
  2. For the 'Number of children’ count, a child is counted only once, even if they had multiple occurrences of the event during the year.
  3. For care and protection orders, the number of events are orders that were issued in 2023–24, while the number of children are those who had an ongoing care and protection order during 2023–24.
  4. For readability, numbers have been rounded.

Sources: CPA 2023–24: Insights, data tables 2.2, S3.1, S3.3, S4.1, T1; Unpublished data, AIHW Child Protection Collection 2023–24 .

Child protection services

Nationally, the focus is increasingly on early intervention and family support services to:

  • help prevent children entering or returning to the child protection system
  • minimise the need for more intrusive interventions (AIHW 2021; Bromfield & Holzer 2008; DSS 2021).

Most jurisdictions have enacted strategies that help families in a more holistic way, by:

  • coordinating family support service delivery
  • providing better access to different types of child and family services (DSS 2021).

For information on the performance of governments in providing child protection services across Australia, see the Report on Government Services 2025.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on child protection in Australia, see:

For more on this topic, see Child protection.