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 Year Sort ascending
Untangling risk of maltreatment from events of maltreatment: An analysis of the 2008 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2008)
Fallon, Barbara; Trocmé, Nico; MacLaurin, Bruce; Sunha, Vandna; Black, Tara
2011
Children adopted from China: Attachment security two years later
Cohen, Nancy J.; Farnia, Fataneh
2011
Fostering cultural development: Foster parents' perspectives
Daniel, Ellice
2011
Child welfare involvement of mothers with mental health issues
Westad, Callie; McConnell, David
2011
Voice, power and discourse: Experiences of participants in family group conferences in the context of child protection
Ney, Tara; Stoltz, Jo-Anne; Maloney, Maureen
2011
Diagnostic coding of abuse related fractures at two children's emergency departments
Somji, Zeeshanefatema; Plint, Amy; McGahern, Candice; Al-Saleh, Ahmed; Boutis, Kathy
2011
Associations of personality with alcohol use behaviour and alcohol problems in adolescents receiving child welfare services
Stewart, Sherry Heather; McGonnell, Melissa; Wekerle, Christine; Adlaf, Ed
2011
Anxiety and/or depression in 10-15-year-olds investigated by child welfare in Canada
Tonmyr, Lil; Williams, Gabriela; Hovdestad, Wendy E.; Draca, Jasminka
2011
Infant placement in Canadian child maltreatment-related investigations
Tonmyr, Lil; Williams, Gabriela; Jack, Susan M.; MacMillan, Harriet
2011
Mental Health Social Work Practice in Canada
Regehr, Cheryl; Glancy, Graham D.
2010
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: