National

Child welfare services fall under the mandate of provincial and territorial governments, including a rapidly expanding system of Aboriginal child welfare authorities. This section contains material related to federal initiatives concerned with child welfare services as well as statistics compiled at the national level.

All Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect reports can be found here.

Statistics

Child Maltreatment Investigations in Canada, 1998 and 2008*

  1998 2008
Child population 6,301,295 6,022,005
Number of child maltreatment investigations 134,566 235,842
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1,000 children 21.36 39.16


Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Canada, 2008*

  Number Rate per 1,000 children Percent
Maltreatment Investigation 174,411 28.97 74%
Risk Investigation 61,431 10.19 26%


Primary Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in Canada, 2008*

Category of Maltreatment Number Rate per 1,000 children Percent
Physical Abuse 17,212 2.86 20%
Sexual Abuse 2,607 0.43 3%
Neglect 28,939 4.81 34%
Emotional Maltreatment 7,423 1.23 9%
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence 29,259 4.86 34%


Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in 1998 and in Child Maltrement and Risk Investigations in Canada in 2008*

  1998 Number 1998 Rate 2008 Number 2008 Rate
Informal Kinship Care 5,851 0.93 8,713 1.45
Formal Placement 11,003 1.74 10,886 1.81


Public Health Agency of Canada. (2010). Canadian incidence study of reported child abuse and neglect 2008: Major findings (p. 122). Public Health Agency of Canada. Retrieved from http://cwrp.ca/publications/2117

Publications
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Title Authors Year
Physical abuse among Asian families in the Canadian child welfare system

Lee, Barbara
Rha, Wendy
Fallon, Barbara

2014
Predicting suicidal ideations in sexually abused female adolescents: a 12-month prospective study

Brabant, Marie-Eve
Hébert, Martine
Chagnon, François

2014
Relationships between drugs and delinquency in adolescence: Influence of gender and victimization experiences

Brunelle, Natacha
Tremblay, Joel
Blanchette-Martin, Nadine
Gendron, Annie
Tessier, Mélanie

2014
Research Brief: Interventions to Prevent Child Maltreatment

MacMillan, Harriet L.  
Wathen, C. Nadine

2014
Research Brief: Resilience, Mental Health and Family Violence

MacMillan, Harriet L.
Wathen, C. Nadine

2014
Responding to intimate partner violence: Child welfare policies and practices

Nikolova, Kristina
Fallon, Barbara
Black, Tara
Allan, Kate

2014
Risk of maltreatment recurrence after exiting substitute care: Impact of placement characteristics

Hélie, Sonia
Poirier, Marie-Andrée
Turcotte, Daniel

2014
Subtypes of exposure to intimate partner violence within a Canadian child welfare sample: Associated risks and child maladjustment

Gonzalez, Andrea
MacMillan, Harriet
Tanaka, Masako
Jack, Susan M.
Tonmyr, Lil

2014
Taking action together on shared priorities ~ for the future of Indigenous peoples and all of Canada. Submission to the council of the federation

Assembly of First Nations

2014
The stability of child protection placements in Quebec, Canada

Esposito, Tonino
Trocmé, Nico
Chabot, Martin
Collin-Vézina, Delphine
Shlonsky, Aron
Sinha, Vandna

2014
Legislation

Child welfare services fall under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial authorities as a result each province and territory has different legislation pertaining to child protection interventions. For more information click here.

The only child welfare regulations and legislation that apply to all provinces and territories are the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development First Nations Child and Family Services National Program Manual and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child: