Indigenous Child Welfare - Statistics

Child Maltreatment Investigations, First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children^*

  First Nations Children Non-Indigenous Children
Number of child maltreatment investigations 45,918 241,137
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1,000 children 151 42.11


Type of Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children^*

  First Nations Number First Nations Rate per 1,000 Children First Nations Percent
Maltreatment incident Investigation 32,328 106.31 70%
Risk Investigation 13,590 44.69 30%
  Non-Indigenous Number Non-Indigenous Rate per 1,000 Children Non-Indigenous Percent
Maltreatment incident Investigation 168,570 29.44 70%
Risk Investigation 72,567 12.67 30%

 

Level of Substantiation in Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children^*

  First Nations Number First Nations Rate per 1,000 Children First Nations Percent
Substantiated 19,143 62.95 59%
Suspected 2,190 7.20 7%
Unfounded 10,950 36.01 34%
  Non-Indigenous Number Non-Indigenous Rate per 1,000 Children Non-Indigenous Percent
Substantiated 76,899 13.43 46%
Suspected 9,995 1.75 6%
Unfounded 81,676 14.26 48%


Primary Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children^*

First Nations Children      
Category of Maltreatment Number Rate per 1,000 First Nation children Percent
Physical Abuse 1,570 5.16 8%
Sexual Abuse 587 1.93 3%
Neglect 8,400 27.62 44%
Emotional Maltreatment 1,780 5.85 9%
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence 6,806 22.38 36%
Non-Indigenous Children      
Category of Maltreatment Number Rate per 1,000 Non-Indigenous children Percent
Physical Abuse 14,459 2.53 19%
Sexual Abuse 2,108 0.37 3%
Neglect 18,600 3.25 24%
Emotional Maltreatment 10,941 1.91 14%
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence 30,791 5.38 40%


Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Children^*

  First Nations Number First Nations Rate Non-Indigenous Number Non-Indigenous Rate

Informal Placement 

(Kinship Out of Care and Customary Care)

 2,365 7.78 4,798 0.84
Kinship in Care 1,589 5.23 545 0.10
Foster Care (Non-kinship) 1,775 5.84 2,677 0.47
Group Home/Residential or Secure Treatment 207 0.68 757 0.13
Other Placement (e.g., places of safety) 205 0.67 153 0.03
Subtotal: Placement Made 6,141 20.20 8,930 1.56
No Placement Made 39,776 130.81 232,207 40.55
Total Investigations 45,917 151.00 241,137 42.11


* Source: Fallon, B., Lefebvre, R., Trocmé, N., Richard, K., Hélie, S., Montgomery, M., Bennett, M., Joh-Carnella, N., Saint-Girons, M., Filippelli, J., MacLaurin, B., Black, T., Esposito, T., King, B., Collin-Vézina, D., Dallaire, R., Gray, R., Levi, J., Orr, M., Petti, T., Thomas Prokop, S., & Soop, S. (2021) Denouncing the Continued Overrepresentation of First Nations Children in Canadian Child Welfare: Findings from the First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2019. Ontario: Assembly of First Nations.

^ Note: The estimates presented here are from the fourth national study that collected investigation data from a large number of First Nations and urban Indigenous agencies. All results must be interpreted with the caution.

Data presented here are weighted estimates; for information regarding the FNCIS weighting procedure, see the executive summary and appendices of Denouncing The Continued Overrepresentation Of First Nations Children In Canadian Child Welfare: Findings From The First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study Of Reported Child Abuse And Neglect-2019 (Fallon et al., 2021)

Interpretations must take into account the context and structure of First Nations child welfare, see Fallon et al., 2021 for a contextualized summary of the findings.