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
Filter by Publication Date Range
Title Authors Year
Emotion regulation and psychopathology in a sample of maltreated children

Muller, Robert T.
Vascotto, N. Angela
Konanur, Sheila
Rosenkranz, Susan

2013
Exploring alternate specifications to explain agency-level effects in placement decisions regarding Aboriginal children: Further analysis of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect part B

Chabot, Martin
Fallon, Barbara
Tonmyr, Lil
MacLaurin, Bruce
Fluke, John
Blackstock, Cindy

2013
Glossary of Social Work Terms and Child Maltreatment Related Concepts

Sturtridge, Michelle

2013
Identification of sexually abused female adolescents at risk for suicidal ideations: A classification and regression tree analysis

Brabant, Marie-Eve
Hébert, Martine
Chagnon, François

2013
Involvement with child protective services: Is this a useful question in population-based surveys?

Hamilton, Hayley A.
Boak, Angela
Mann, Robert E.

2013
Jordan's Principle Documentary

Produced by the Manitoba Nurses Union

2013
Jordan’s Principle: The story of Jordan River Anderson

Prepared for Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs

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

Hughes, Judy
Chau, Shirley

2013
Mothers and infants exposed to intimate partner violence compensate

Letourneau, Nicole
Young Morris, Catherine
Secco, Loretta
Stewart, Miriam
Hughes, Jean
Crichley, Kim

2013
Multilevel correlates of behavioral resilience among children in child welfare

Bell, Tessa
Romano, Elisa
Flynn, Robert J.

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: