Alberta - Statistics | Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal

Child Maltreatment Investigations in Alberta, 2003¹ and 2008²
	2003	2008
Child population	752,005	775,175
Number of child maltreatment investigations	32,453	27,147
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1000 children	43.16	35.02

Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Alberta, 2008²
	Number	Rate per 1,000 children	Percent
Maltreatment Investigation	22,761	35.02	84%
Risk Investigation	4,386	5.66	16%

Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Alberta, 2008²
Category of Maltreatment	Number	Rate per 1,000 children	Percent
Physical Abuse	1,933	2.49	13%
Sexual Abuse	285	0.37	2%
Neglect	5,328	6.87	37%
Emotional Maltreatment	1,974	2.55	14%
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence	4,883	6.30	34%

Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in Alberta, 2003¹ and 2008²
	2003 Number	2003 Rate	2008 Number	2008 Rate
No Placement	28,294	37.62	23,625	30.48
Informal Kinship Care	1,923	2.56	1,139	1.47
Formal Placement	2,230	2.97	2,383	3.08

Children and youth in out-of-home care in 2022³
Children in out-of-home care		Child (0-17) population	Rate per 1000
8, 164		973, 725	8.38

Child welfare services fall under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial authorities, making it difficult to compile statistics at the national level.

The most notable variations between provinces include, mandate variation by jurisdiction with respect to the age to which children are eligible for service, differences in the length of time a child can receive out-of-home care and the definition of out-of-home care.

Reference List

¹ MacLaurin, B., Trocmé, N., Fallon, B., McCormack, M., Pitman, L., Forest, N., Banks, J., Shangreaux, C., & Perrault, E. (2005) Alberta Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (AIS-2003): Major Findings. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary. https://cwrp.ca/publications/alberta-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2003-ais-2003-major-findings

² MacLaurin, B., Trocmé, N., Fallon, B., Sinha, V., Feehan, R., Enns, R., Gail, J., Kitt, O., Thomas‑Prokop, S., Zelt, C., Daoust, G., Hutcheon, E., & Budgell, D. (2013). Alberta Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2008 (AIS-2008): Major Findings. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary. http://cwrp.ca/publications/alberta-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2008-ais-2008-major-findings

³ Pollock, N., Ouédraogo, A., Trocmé, N., Hovdestad, W., Miskie, A., Crompton, L., Campeau, A., Tanaka, M., Zhang, C., Laprise, C., Tonmyr, L. (2024).Original quantitative research – Rates of out-of-home care among children in Canada: an analysis of national administrative child welfare data. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada (44)4. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.4.02.

Government of Alberta. (n.d.). Child Intervention Information and Statistics Summary 2018/19 Fourth Quarter (March) Update. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/de167286-500d-4cf8-bf01-0d08224eeadc/resource/b8142559-cb87-49b7-bd30-d0a3d2f113bc/download/child-intervention-quarterly-stats-2018-19-q4.pdf

Government of Alberta. (2022, February 10). Child Intervention Information and Statistics Summary Child Intervention Information and Statistics – 2021-22 Third Quarter (December) Update. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/de167286-500d-4cf8-bf01-0d08224eeadc/resource/fd29d5a2-a42f-4e79-86bf-b3797dee8684/download/cs-child-intervention-information-statistics-summary-2021-2022-q3.pdf