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 randomized trial of wraparound facilitation versus usual child protection services

Browne, Dillon T.
Puente-Duran, Sofia
Shlonsky, Aron
Thabane, Lehana
Verticchio, Dominic

2014
Urgent protection versus chronic need: Clarifying the dual mandate of child welfare services across Canada

Trocmé, Nico
Kyte, Alicia
Sinha, Vandna
Fallon, Barbara

2014
Type of investigation, substantiation and primary category of substantiated maltreatment for First Nations children across Canada

Quinn, Ashley
Nutton, Jennifer
Blumenthal, Anne
Trocmé, Nico

2014
Research Brief: Interventions to Prevent Child Maltreatment

MacMillan, Harriet L.  
Wathen, C. Nadine

2014
A profile of reported emotional maltreatment in Canada in 2008

Kozlowski, Anna
Lwin, Kristin
Fallon, Barbara

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
Research Brief: Resilience, Mental Health and Family Violence

MacMillan, Harriet L.
Wathen, C. Nadine

2014
Multilevel correlates of behavioral resilience among children in child welfare

Bell, Tessa
Romano, Elisa
Flynn, Robert J.

2013
Making complex decisions: Child protection workers' practices and interventions with families experiencing intimate partner violence

Hughes, Judy
Chau, Shirley

2013
Social needs of Aboriginal foster parents

Brown, Jason D.
Ivanova, Viktoria
Mehta, Nisha
Skrodski, Donna
Gerrits, Julie

2013
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: