STATISTICS & EVIDENCE

Child Protection Statistics

Right now, more than 170,000 children are in contact with the child protection system in Australia and, for 68% of those children, this is not the first contact.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2020. Child protection Australia 2018–19. Child welfare series no. 72. Cat. no. CWS 74. Canberra: AIHW.

In Queensland, that number is 25,000 children who have been in contact with the child protection system; in Brisbane and Moreton Bay, the number of children in contact with the system as increased by more than 34% between 2016 and 2021.  7,174 Queensland children under the age of five were subject to a child protection notification in 2021.

Source: Child Protection Summary Statistics Queensland, Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs. Further analysis by The University of Queensland.

In 2020-21 the Child Death Review Board considered the deaths of 55 children. This is alarming and something needs to be done fast.
Source: The State of Queensland (Queensland Child Death Review Board). Child Death Review Board Annual report 2020–21

Across Australia, government bodies are struggling to cope with the dramatic rise in reports of child abuse – up 7.3 % in the past 12 months – and the number of foster carers in Queensland is failing to keep up with increased demand.

• Foster carer data:
  Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs 2021, Carer Families Queensland (annual data 2017 – 2021),

• Demand for services

• Increase in reports of child abuse
  Australian Institute of Family Studies Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics 2017; and
  Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2022) Australia's children, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 10 April 2022: Australia’s children 2022 Update: Child Abuse and Neglect 2019-2020

Recent data shows an alarming increase of reported abuse and neglect in children under six years.

• Child Protection Summary Statistics Queensland, Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs. Further analysis by The University of Queensland

• Multiple reviews; Early childhood development and impacts later in life

• Loraine Fordham, PhD, Qualitative Study of the Early Years Education Program (EYEP:Q), Charles Sturt University & Children’s Protection Society, April 2015

• Jordan, B., Tseng, YP., Coombs, N. et al. Improving lifetime trajectories for vulnerable young children and families living with significant stress and social disadvantage: the early years education program randomised controlled trial. BMC Public Health 14, 965 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-965

The Abecedarian Approach

• The Carolina Abecedarian Project (FPG Child Development Institute, University of North

  Carolina, Chapel Hill)

• Abecedarian Education Foundation

• 3a – Abecedarian Approach Australia, The University of Melbourne

 Commonwealth Child Wellbeing Subsidy:

The Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) provides additional fee assistance to support vulnerable or disadvantaged families and children. It provides extra help with fees to families facing barriers to child care.

The ACCS is part of the Child Care Safety Net, which aims to give the most vulnerable children a strong start while supporting parents into work. ACCS will usually cover all of a child’s child care fees.