Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are not overrepresented in the child protection system.

By 2031, reduce the rate of overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children (0–17 years old) in out-of-home care by 45%

Rates of substantiation of a notification by type of abuse, including emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse

This measure is defined as the rate of children (aged 0–17 years) that were the subject of substantiated child protection notifications, by type of abuse or neglect.

Numerator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–17 years that were the subject of substantiated child protection notifications, by type of abuse or neglect (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect)

Denominator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–17 years, at 31 December

and is presented as a rate per 1,000 children.

National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020

15 June 2023

Contextual information

A low or decreasing rate is desirable

Name (numerator): Child Protection National Minimum Data Set (CP NMDS)

Frequency: Annual

Name (denominator): Estimates and Projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population

Frequency: Annual

Documentation (links): https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-services/child-protection/overview

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-and-projections-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians

Provider name: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)

Provider area: Child protection

Provider name (denominator): Australian Bureau of Statistics

Provider area: Demography

2018‑19

2021‑22

State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status, by type of abuse.

Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 1,000.

Counting rules

If a child was the subject of more than one type of abuse or neglect as part of the same notification, the type of abuse or neglect reported is the one considered by the child protection workers to cause the most harm to the child. Where a child is the subject of more than one substantiation during the year, the type of abuse or neglect reported is the one associated with the first substantiation decision relating to the earliest notification during the year. As such, only the abuse type for the first substantiation in the year that is most likely to place the child at risk, or be most severe in the short term, is reported.

In some cases, the abuse type for some substantiations was recorded as ‘not stated’ and could not be mapped to physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect. These substantiations are included in the totals; as such, the total may not equal the sum of categories.

Data on substantiations across all jurisdictions excludes children where abuse type is not stated, but these are still included in the total.

State and territory data are based on the child protection department responsible for the child.

Includes (numerator):

• Children whose ages were not stated.
• Unborn children in jurisdictions where they are covered under child protection legislation.

Excludes (numerator):

• Children for whom Indigenous status was not stated. Data on the number of substantiations with unknown Indigenous status is provided for context.

Denominator:

• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is calculated from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population estimates and projections at 30 June of the reference period (series B). The June projections for two years are averaged to obtain population figure for December of the relevant year.
• The non‑Indigenous population is calculated by subtracting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population from the 31 December total population.

Data by Indigenous status are influenced by the quality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification of young people in the CP NMDS.

Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have adopted a policy of suppressing numbers below five and above zero, and AIHW has applied additional suppression.

Additional disaggregations required for future reporting:

• age
• gender.