Quebec - Statistics

Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec, 1998, 20081 and 20142
 199820082014
Child population1,658,4801,549,2001,521,298
Number of child maltreatment investigations25,61528,60831,529
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1000 children15.4418.4720.72
Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Quebec in 20142
 #Rate per
1,000 children		%
No Risk or Substantiated Maltreatment 8,5655.6327%
Confirmed Risk of Future Maltreatment4,1012.7013%
Substantiated Maltreatment18,86012.4060%
Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec in 20142
Category of Maltreatment#Rate per
1,000 children		%
Physical Abuse4,4572.9319%
Sexual Abuse7320.483%
Neglect6,1274.0327%
Emotional Maltreatment2,4861.6311%
Behavioural Problems4,3642.8719%
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence4,7903.1521%
Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec, 1998, 20081 and 20142
 1998 #1998 Rate2008 #2008 Rate2014 #2014 Rate
No Placement16,77610.1224,23815.6527,22117.89
Informal Kinship Care--7800.501,6641.09
Formal Placement7,7904.73,1782.062,5581.68
Type of Placement Unknown8340.503400.22--0.04
Children and youth in out-of-home care in 2022 3
Children in out-of-home care Child (0-17) populationRate per 1000
15,201 1,604,1959.48

External Statistics Links

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 Hélie, S., Turcotte, D., Trocmé, N., & Tourigny, M. (2012). Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2008: Rapport final (p. 252). Montreal, QC: Centre jeunesse de Montréal-Institut universitaire. https://cwrp.ca/fr/publications/etude-dincidence-quebecoise-sur-les-situations-evaluees-en-protection-de-la-jeunesse.

2 Hélie, S., Collin-Vézina, D.,Turcotte, D., Trocmé, N., & Girouard, N. (2017). Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2014: Rapport final. Montreal, QC: Centre jeunesse de Montréal-Institut universitaire. https://cwrp.ca/publications/quebec-incidence-study-2014-eiq-2014-final-report.

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