The National Child Protection and Support Services (NCPASS) Data Group commissioned the Australian Institute of Family Studies to compare the Australian child protection data for all jurisdictions for the period 2000-01 to 2005-06. The project explored similarities and differences in the data on child abuse notifications, investigations and substantiations collected by each jurisdiction. This project report examines the rates of total notifications, investigations and substantiations, and the rates of children on orders and in out-of-home care for the review period. It analyses and discusses the similarities and differences in rates across and within jurisdictions, including a state-by-state breakdown of data trends, and identifies and assesses factors that may explain the differences.

The report suggests that multiple factors exert an influence on the rates of each headline indicator in any given reporting period. Some factors are thought to exert a national influence on statutory child protection activity (for instance, increased public awareness of child maltreatment and the broadened concept of what constitutes child maltreatment), while other factors are suggested to be specific to particular jurisdictions, such as the implementation of policy reforms and the flow on effects of reviews of child protection services.   

Contents include: Executive summary -- 1. Method -- 2. Child protection in Australia -- 3. Australian Capital Territory -- 4. New South Wales -- 5. Northern Territory -- 6. Queensland 38 -- 7. South Australia -- 8. Tasmania -- 9. Victoria -- 10. Western Australia -- 11. Explaining similarities and differences in child protection data across Australia -- 12. Summary and conclusion.

Note: Prepared by the National Child Protection Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Family Studies, with the assistance of the Children, Youth and Families Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

NCPASS Comparability of Child Protection Data: Project Report is only available as in PDF format.