Ontario - Statistics

Child Maltreatment Investigations in Ontario, 20081, 20132 and 20183
 200820132018
Child population (0-15)2,382,0352,349,6002,361,870
Number of child maltreatment investigations128,748125,281148,536
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1,000 children54.0553.3262.89
Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Ontario, 20183
 NumberRate per 1,000 childrenPercent
Maltreatment Investigation94,47640.0064%
Risk Investigation54,06022.8936%
Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in Ontario, 20183
Category of MaltreatmentNumberRate per 1,000 childrenPercent
Physical Abuse7,0813.0019%
Sexual Abuse1,0190.433%
Neglect8,0823.4221%
Emotional Maltreatment4,6891.9912%
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence17,0517.2245%
Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in Ontario, 20081, 20132 and 20183
 2008 #2008 Rate2013 #2013 Rate2018 #2018 Rate
No Placement121,43650.98121,02051.51144,35161.12
Informal Kinship Care3,6161.521,8740.802,4881.05
Formal Placement3,6961.552,3871.021,6970.71
Children and youth in out-of-home care in 20224
Children in out-of-home care Child (0-17) populationRate per 1000
7, 489 2, 750, 0142.72

Child welfare services fall under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial authorities, making it difficult to compile statistics at the national level.

The most notable variations between provinces include, mandate variation by jurisdiction with respect to the age to which children are eligible for service, differences in the length of time a child can receive out-of-home care and the definition of out-of-home care.

Reference List

1 Fallon, B., Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B., Sinha, V., Black, T., Felstiner, Schumaker, K., Van Wert, M., Herbert, A., Petrowski, N., Daciuk, J., Lee, B., DuRoss, C., & Johnston, A. (2010). Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2008 (OIS‑2008). Toronto, ON: Child Welfare Research Portal. https://cwrp.ca/publications/ontario-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2008-ois-2008

2 Fallon, B., Van Wert, M., Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B., Sinha, V., Lefebvre, R., Allan, K., Black, T., Lee, B., Rha, W., Smith, C., & Goel, S. (2015). Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2013 (OIS‑2013) Toronto, ON: Child Welfare Research Portal. https://cwrp.ca/publications/ontario-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2013-ois-2013.

3 Fallon, B., Filippelli, J. Lefebvre, R., Joh-Carnella, N., Trocmé, N., Black, T., .... Stoddart, J.(2020). Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2018 (OIS‑2018). Toronto, ON: Child Welfare Research Portal. https://cwrp.ca/publications/ontario-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2018-ois-2018.

4 Pollock, N., Ouédraogo, A., Trocmé, N., Hovdestad, W., Miskie, A., Crompton, L., Campeau, A., Tanaka, M., Zhang, C., Laprise, C., Tonmyr, L. (2024). Rates of out-of-home care among children in Canada: an analysis of national administrative child welfare data. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada (44)4. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.4.02