CP from birth to 18

Academic paper: A Longitudinal Study of Children Reported to the Child Protection Department in Western Australia.

This study of management information provides data on all reports, investigations and findings of maltreatment of children in Western Australia from their birth in 1990 or 1991 until their eighteenth birthday. It provides prevalence rates of children being reported, investigated and found to have been maltreated. A study of more recent cohorts shows trends in recent years. A key finding is that over 13% of all children born in 1990 and 1991 were reported before reaching the age of eighteen although 71% of them were not found to have been maltreated. International data suggests this rate of 1 in 8 children being reported may be equalled or exceeded in countries with an Anglo-American forensic child protection system. There was also a disturbing increase in reports of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in recent cohorts with an estimate that almost half of those born in 2004 had been reported before their fifth birthday. These findings add further evidence to the need for social work to address and severely limit investigative approaches. In this way social workers will provide support rather than continuing practices involving high rates of surveillance and a focus on parental blame. This study of management information provides data on all reports, investigations and findings of maltreatment of children in Western Australia from their birth in 1990 or 1991 until their eighteenth birthday. It provides prevalence rates of children being reported, investigated and found to have been maltreated. A study of more recent cohorts shows trends in recent years. A key finding s that over 13% of all children born in 1990 and 1991 were reported before reaching the age of eighteen although 71% of them were not found to have been maltreated. International data suggests this rate of 1 in 8 children being reported may be equalled or exceeded in countries with an Anglo-American forensic child protection system. There was also a disturbing increase in reports of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in recent cohorts with an estimate that almost half of those born in 2004 had been reported before their fifth birthday. These findings add further evidence to the need for social work to address and severely limit investigative approaches. In this way social workers will provide support rather than continuing practices involving high rates of surveillance and a focus on parental blame.