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 Sort ascending
The evolving relationship between casework skills, engagement, and positive case outcomes in child protection: A structural equation model

Damiani-Taraba, Gissele
Dumbrill, Gary
Gladstone, James
Koster, Andrew
Leslie, Bruce
Charles, Michelle

2017
Defining ‘reasonable force’: Does it advance child protection?

Durrant, Joan E.
Fallon, Barbara
Lefebvre, Rachael
Allan, Kate

2017
Sexual abuse and preschoolers: Forensic details in regard of question types
Gagnon, Karine
Cyr, Mireille
2017
Is the families first home visiting program effective in reducing child maltreatment and improving child development?

Chartier, Mariette J
Brownell, Marni D
Isaac, Michael R
Chateau, Dan
Nickel, Nathan C
Katz, Alan
Sarkar, Joykrishna
Hu, Milton
Taylor, Carole

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
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
Psychopharmacotherapy in children placed in group homes and residential centres in Canada: Psychopathological portrait of children receiving psychotropic medications and educators' perception of treatment

Desjardins, Julie
Lafortune, Denis
Cyr, Francine

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
A prospective study of the impact of child maltreatment and friend support on psychological distress trajectory: From adolescence to emerging adulthood

Dion, Jacinthe
Matte-Gagné, Célia
Daigneault, Isabelle
Blackburn, Marie-Eve
Hébert, Martine
McDuff, Pierre
Auclair, Julie
Veillette, Suzanne
Perron, Michel

2016
Factors predicting central details in alleged child sexual abuse victims’ disclosure
Alonzo-Proulx, Agnès
Cyr, Mireille
2016
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: