The limitations of using statutory child protection data for research into child maltreatment

Abstract

Child protection legislation has undergone a number of changes since its inception, changes that have redefined the population of children in need of protection. However, child protection data on notifications and substantiations remain the most common source of data for statistics on the rate of maltreatment and the breakdown of specific maltreatment types. In the present study, three factors are identified that have compromised the accuracy of child protection data reporting the incidence of child abuse and neglect: (i) the legislative changes that mandate child protection services to protect children from harm rather than from identifiable adult actions; (ii) the shift from the Harm Standard to the Endangerment Standard; and (iii) the assignment of responsibility solely to parents. The examples in this paper are drawn from Australian legislation, however, the legislative changes that have created these issues are evident internationally, rendering child protection data an unreliable and invalid source for statutory or research data on the rates of child maltreatment.