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 Sort ascending
A survey of adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with nonparental caregivers in group home settings: An attachment perspective

Rabley, Sarah
Preyde, Michèle
Gharabaghi, Kiaras

2014
Research Brief: Resilience, Mental Health and Family Violence

MacMillan, Harriet L.
Wathen, C. Nadine

2014
Disclosure of sexual abuse among youth in residential treatment care: A multiple informant comparison

Milne, Lise
Collin-Vézina, Delphine

2014
Emotional needs of Aboriginal foster parents

Brown, Jason D.
Ivanova, Viktoria
Mehta, Nisha
Skrodzki, Donna
Rodgers, Julie

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
A troubled group? Adolescents in a Canadian child welfare sample

Fast, Elizabeth
Trocmé, Nico
Fallon, Barbara
Ma, Jennifer

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

Brabant, Marie-Eve
Hébert, Martine
Chagnon, François

2014
Does type of harm matter? A factorial survey examining the influence of child neglect on child protection decision-making

Stokes, Jackie
Taylor, Julie

2014
Intimate partner abuse before and during pregnancy as risk factors for postpartum mental health problems

Desmarais, Sarah L.
Pritchard, Ashley
Lowder, Evan M.
Janssen, Patricia A.

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: