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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Testing the limits: Extending attachment-based intervention effects to infant cognitive outcome and parental stress
Dubois-Comtois, Karine, Cyr, Chantal, Tarabulsy, George M.;, St-Laurent, Diane, Bernier, Annie, Moss, Ellen
2017
Defining ‘reasonable force’: Does it advance child protection?
Durrant, Joan E.; Fallon, Barbara; Lefebvre, Rachael; Allan, Kate
2017
Correlates of admitted sexual interest in children among individuals convicted of child pornography offenses
Seto, Michael C., Eke, Angela W.
2017
The journey of obtaining services: The realities of male survivors of childhood sexual abuse
Gagnier, Charlotte, Collin-Vézina, Delphine, Sablonnière-Griffin, Mireille De La
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
A longitudinal study of emotion regulation among sexually abused preschoolers
Sèguin-Lemire, Ariane, Hèbert, Martine, Cossette, Louise, Langevin, Rachel
2017
Physical and mental health of sexually abused youth: Gender comparisons from a matched-control cohort study
Daigneault, Isabelle; Vézina-Gagnon, Pascale; Bourgeois,;Catherine; Esposito, Tonino; Hébert,;Martine
2017
Gender as a predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms and externalizing behavior problems in sexually abused children
Gauthier-Duchesne,;Amélie, Hébert, Martine, Daspe, Marie-Ève
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
Sexual abuse and preschoolers: Forensic details in regard of question types
Gagnon, Karine, Cyr, Mireille
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: