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
Feasibility of a randomized controlled trial for evaluating the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters community match program at the national level

De Wit, David J.
Lipman, Ellen
Manzano-Munguia, Maria
Bisanz, Jeffrey
Graham, Kathryn
Offord, David R.
O'Neill, Elizabeth
Pepler, Deborah
Shaver, Karen

2007
Identity lost and found: Lessons from the sixties scoop

Sinclair, Raven

2007
In Whose Best Interest? A Canadian Case Study of the Impact of Child Welfare Policies in Cases of Domestic Violence

Alaggia, Ramona
Jenney, Angelique
Mazzuca, Josephine
Redmond, Melissa

2007
Keeping First Nations Children At Home: A Few Federal Policy Changes Could Make A Big Difference

Wien, Fred
Blackstock, Cindy
Loxley, John
Trocmè, Nico

2007
Residential Schools: Did They Really Close or Just Morph Into Child Welfare?

Blackstock, Cindy

2007
Sexual Abuse Allegations and Parental Separation: Smokescreen or Fire?

Bala, Nicholas
Mitnick, Mindy
Trocmé, Nico
Houston, Claire

2007
Spousal Violence and Child-Related Cases: Challenging Cases Requiring Differentiated Responses

Bala, Nicholas
Jaffe, Peter
Crooks, Claire

2007
Supporting Aboriginal Children and Youth with Learning and Behavioural Disabilities in the Care of Aboriginal Child Welfare Agencies

Gosek, Gwen
Wright, Alexandra
Hiebert-Murphy, Diane

2007
The Effect of Maltreatment Co-occurrence on Emotional Harm among Sexually Abused Children

De Marco, Richard
Tonmyr, Lil
Fallon, Barbara
Trocmé, Nico

2007
Building a Future Together: Issues and Outcomes for Transition-Aged Youth

Reid, Carrie
Dudding, Peter

2006
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: