Advancing National Child Protection Data Sam Chambers and Rachel Kilo Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

135,139 children receiving child protection services 2

3 Who are we National independent statutory body Health and welfare data custodian Integrating authority (for data linkage) Our mission Authoritative information and statistics to promote better health and wellbeing

4 The Project Enhancing the evidence base: a national priority ─ The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s children From aggregate to unit record ─Development work commenced 2009 ─First data used in

5 Why was change important Aggregate limitationsUnit record capability Data on key components of child protection system siloed Capacity to look across components of child protection Limited responsiveness and flexibility (Pre-determined questions) Capacity to respond to emerging areas of interest Broad indication of activity specific to child protection Capacity to look at related fields and explore outcomes (homelessness, youth justice etc.) Limited to looking at established trendsCapacity to explore longitudinal trends and pathways (better able to tell stories) Limited transparencyImproved collaboration and consistency

Example aggregate table Indigenous status SexIndigenous Non- IndigenousUnknownPersons Male 5,000 10,000015,000 Female4,00012,000016,000 Unknown0000 Persons9,00022,000031,000

Example unit record (31,000 de-identified records) Person ID Date of BirthIndigenous StatusSexEtc. 1Child_A10/08/2007 Aboriginal but not Torres Strait Islander originMale… 2Child_B01/03/2011 Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander originFemale… 3Child_C19/05/1999 Neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander origin Intersex or indeterminate… …………… 30,3 00Child_Z23/04/2012 Indigenous – not further specifiedFemale…

Current Model 8 Client demographics Notifications, investigations and substantiations Care and protection orders Living arrangements Carer authorisations National out-of-home care standards Siblings

9 Child Protection Australia Key findings: Over 135,000 children receiving child protection services Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children continue to be over-represented More than half the children receiving services were subject only to an investigation

10 Key findings (cont.): Increasing numbers of children in substantiations, on care and protection orders and in out-of-home care Most children subject to a substantiation were from areas of lowest socioeconomic status, and 1 in 5 had more than one substantiation in the year. Emotional abuse and neglect the most common types of abuse/neglect On an average day, over 23,000 households were authorised to provide foster or relative/kinship care

New Analyses with Unit record Data 11

12 Children who were the subject of an investigation of a notification Children on care and protection orders Children in out-of-home care Number91,37051,99750,307 Rate ,139 Australian children receiving child protection services Rate of 26.1 per 1,000

13 Children receiving child protection services by components of service received

14 Client type Children receiving child protection services Children on care and protection orders Children in out-of-home care Children who were the subject of an investigation of a notification Per cent New client Repeat client Total100.0 New and repeat clients receiving child protection services, by service type

Number of substantiations per child 15

16 Indigenous Over-representation Rate ratio

17 Co-occurrence of abuse Emotional abuse and neglect most common primary type 27% average co-occurrence Co-occurrence with physical abuse 37% (emotional) and 27% (neglect).

Children who were the subjects of substantiations, by socioeconomic status at notification, 2012–13

19 Next steps Work to improve data quality/availability Expand client information National linkage work Full report

20 Questions