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
Child Welfare and Pandemics Literature Scan

Sistovaris, Marina
Fallon, Barbara
Miller, Steven
Birken, Catherine
Denburg, Avram
Jenkins, Jennifer
Mishna, Faye
Sokolowski, Marla
Stewart, Suzanne

2020
Children in Out-of-Home Care in Canada in 2019

Saint-Girons, Marie
Trocmé, Nico
Esposito, Tonino
Fallon, Barbara 

2020
Equity Concerns in the Context of COVID-19: A Focus on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Communities in Canada

Saint-Girons, Marie
Joh-Carnella, Nicolette
Lefebvre, Rachael
Blackstock, Cindy
Fallon, Barbara

2020
False Allegations of Abuse and Neglect, 2018

Simpson, Megan
Fletcher, Kara
De La Sablonniere-Grifin, Mireille
Trocmé, Nico

2018
Group Home and Residential Treatment Placements in Child Welfare: Analyzing the 2008 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect

Doucet, Mélanie
Marion, Élodie
Trocmé, Nico

2018
A longitudinal study of emotion regulation among sexually abused preschoolers
Sèguin-Lemire, Ariane
Hèbert, Martine
Cossette, Louise
Langevin, Rachel
2017
Child welfare responses linked to subtypes of exposure to intimate partner violence: Evidence from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect
Gonzalez, Andrea
MacMillan, Harriet
Tanaka, Masako
Jack, Susan M. 
Tonmyr, Lil
2017
Childhood sexual abuse and substance abuse: A gender paradox?
Tonmyr, Lil
Shields, Margot
2017
Childhood sexual abuse, sexual motives, and adolescent sexual risk-taking among males and females receiving child welfare services
Wekerle, Christine
Goldstein, Abby L.
Tanaka, Masako
Tonmyr, Lil
2017
Correlates of admitted sexual interest in children among individuals convicted of child pornography offenses
Seto, Michael C.
Eke, Angela W.
2017
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: