Objectives: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of reports of emotional maltreatment (EMT) in Canada, as well as changes in these reports between 1998 and 2003. Methods: This study is based on a secondary analysis of data collected in the first and second Canadian Incidence Study. Emotional maltreatment (excluding exposure to intimate…

Objective: This study explores prevalence and characteristics associated with supervisory neglect and physical harm in children in the child welfare system in Canada. Methods: The sample included all substantiated primary maltreatment investigations in the 2008 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect excluding cases where…

Objective: To examine evidence available in large-scale North American datasets on child abuse and neglect that can assist in understanding the complexities of child protection case classifications. Methods: A review of child abuse and neglect data from large North American epidemiological studies including the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported…

Objective: This article reviewed the different surveillance systems used to monitor the extent of reported child maltreatment in North America. Methods: Key measurement and definitional differences between the surveillance systems are detailed and their potential impact on the measurement of the rate of victimization. The infrastructure…

This paper describes the methodological changes that occurred across cycles of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS), specifically outlining the rationale for tracking investigations of families with children at risk of maltreatment in the CIS-2008 cycle. This paper also presents analysis of data from the CIS-2008…

Objective: Canadian victimization surveys and police databases suggest that, overall, no decline in sexual crimes in Canada had occurred lately. We aimed at reviewing the existing data from Canadian child protection services to further explore whether a decline in the number of substantiated child sexual abuse (CSA) cases has occurred during the…

Rates of substantiated maltreatment documented by the 1993 and 1998 Ontario Incidence Studies of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect doubled between 1993 and 1998. Although increasing public awareness and changes in investigation procedures appear to account for part of this change, the increase also reflects a significant shift in the types of…

This review of child homicide research identifies three methodological issues: (1) the classification of child deaths as homicides is unreliable; (2) child homicides may not represent the endpoint of a continuum of violence from inadequate parenting to death; and (3) child homicides are not frequent enough to measure the impact of child welfare…

Discusses the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS), which is based on a survey of child protection workers involved in 2,447 abuse and neglect investigations. OIS found an incidence rate of reported maltreatment of 21 per 1,000 children and a 27% substantiation rate. Includes comparisons with incidence rates for the…