The number of children requiring protective services has jumped 6% in just one year, and nearly three-quarters of them have had previous contact with the system, a new report shows.
The figures, released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), show that one out of every 37 children in Australia has had some contact with protective services.
In the 2013-14 financial year 143,023 children were the subject of an investigation by protective services, or were covered by protection orders, or had been placed in out-of-home care. That figure was up from 135,193 in the previous 12-month period.
The report has a bleak outlook for already vulnerable children, finding that once they have accessed the system, they are more likely to again.
“Almost three-quarters, or 73%, of all children involved in the child protection system were repeat clients in 2013–14,” AIHW spokeswoman Justine Boland said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders continue to be over-represented in the protective services system. Indigenous children were seven times more likely to be in the system than non-Indigenous children.
Indigenous children access protective services at a rate of 137 per 1000 children, compared to 19 per 1000 for non-Indigenous children.
A separate report also shows Indigenous children are much more likely to be placed in out-of-home care.
The AIHW report finds that across the board, emotional abuse and neglect are the most common type of substantiated abuse, followed by physical and sexual abuse.
But Boland said that the first reason for contact with the protective services did not tell the whole story.
“These figures describe only the primary type of abuse. In reality, children may experience a combination of some or all of these types of abuse,” Boland said.
The Northern Territory has the highest rate of engagement with protective services, and the Australian Capital Territory has the lowest.
“The number of children in the ACT receiving child protection services decreased from 2,215 in 2012-13 to 1,635 in 2013-14,” the ACT’s children’s minister, Mick Gentleman, said.
“These decreases bucked an upward trend nationally and signifies fewer families have required the intervention of care and protection services in their life.”
