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
Coping motives as moderators of the relationship between emotional distress and alcohol problems in a sample of adolescents involved with child welfare

Goldstein, Abby L.
Vilhena-Churchill, Natalie
Stewart, Sherry H.
Wekerle, Christine

2012
The role of school connectedness in the link between family involvement with child protective services and adolescent adjustment

Hamilton, Hayley A.
Wekerle, Christine
Paglia-Boak, Angela
Mann, Robert E.

2012
Preliminary effects of a group-based tutoring program for children in long-term foster care

Harper, Julie
Schmidt, Fred

2012
Children's best interests and intimate partner violence in the Canadian family law and child protection systems

Hughes, Judy
Chau, Shirley

2012
Physical punishment of children: lessons from 20 years of research

Durrant, J. & Ensom, R. 

2012
A comparison of First Nations and non-Aboriginal children investigated for maltreatment in Canada in 2003

MacLaurin, Bruce
Trocmé, Nico
Fallon, Barbara
Blackstock, Cindy
Pitman, Lisa
McCormack, Megan

2011
Research-Community Partnerships in Child Welfare

Léveillé, Sophie
Trocmé, Nico
Brown, Ivan
Chamberland, Claire

2011
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations child welfare: Why if Canada wins, equality and justice lose

Blackstock, Cindy

2011
Children under 15, registered Indian status and total population, for Canada, the provinces and territories, 2006

First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada

2011
Inuit Child Welfare and Family Support: Policies, Programs and Strategies

Rae, Lisa

2011
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: