Do child protection statistics tell us how many children are abused or neglected in Australia?
Child protection statistics tells us how many children come into contact with child protection services. It is the only data routinely collected in Australia that gives an idea of the number of children experiencing child abuse and neglect. However there are several problems (see box inset for a discussion) with these data that result in some children who: • have been abused or neglected not being included in child protection statistics; and • have not been abused or neglect being included in child protection statistics. Child protection statistics are the best available indicator of the extent of the problem of child abuse and neglect in Australia, but they do not tell us how many children in the community have been abused or neglected. The limitations of child protection statistics as an indicator for child maltreatment incidence Traditionally, child protection data have been perceived as a conservative estimate of the occurrence of child maltreatment (Bromfield & Higgins, 2004). Chi
Child protection statistics tells us how many children come into contact with child protection services. It is the only data routinely collected in Australia that give an idea of the number of children experiencing child abuse and neglect. However there are several problems (see box inset for a discussion) with these data that result in some children who: • have been abused or neglected not being included in child protection statistics; and • have not been abused or neglect being included in child protection statistics. Child protection statistics are the best available indicator of the extent of the problem of child abuse and neglect in Australia, but they do not tell us how many children in the community have been abused or neglected.
