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Child abuse - figures
 One child is abused and/or negelcted every 13 minutes (substantiated) (AIHW 2002-3)
The number of children substantiated as having been abused has doubled in the last decade.
Indigenous rates average 7 times that of the rest of the population and are far more likely to be the subject of neglect reports.
10% of that abuse is sexual in nature. As much as 85% of sexual abuse occurs in the home.
The average child-sex offender (extra-familial) will abuse 45-135 children in their lifetime
Research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that 96 per cent of children abused physically, sexually or emotionally knew their abusers.
As child abuse is a secret crime, notification statistics profoundly under-estimate the size of the problem.
2/3 of sex crimes in Australia are against children
In Australia, child abuse is reported every two and a half minutes.
NSW figures (2003-4) show a report is received every 35 minutes of a child being abused, and the vast majority of these complaints are verified upon investigation.
NSW police estimate that an offence against a child is reported to police in NSW at the rate of around 58 children a day.
The cost of child abuse is 5 billion per year or equal to Australia’s total annual meat export (Keatsdale Pts. Ltd, Kids First foundation and Abused child Trust Nov 2003)
In 2003-2003,
263,800 children were living with victims of domestic violence
In 2002-2003,
181,200 children witnessed domestic violence
The total cost of child abuse in Australia is $8.1 billion, of which $769 million relates to impact on children (Aus Govt Office of the Status of Women & Access economics Pty. Ltd.)
70% of prisoners have been abused as children (Qld Children’s Commission Report into Paedophilia 1997)
A relatively high percentage of substantitations involve children living in female-headed open-parent and in two-step or blended families. Sole parents are more likely to have low income and financial stresses, social isolation and less family support (AIHW 2005)
Monash Study for Hearing in the Family Court found 50% of pre-hearing cases and 30% of full hearing cases involved child abuse yet in 86% of cases it had not been reported (Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, Issues Paper 10)
Between 2003 and 2004, more than 185 000 child abuse cases in New South Wales were reported by police, health and educational departments to the Department of Community Services.
In 2002-03 there were 40,416 substantiated cases of child abuse – a rate of one child every 13 minutes.
All children are at risk regardless of social class, race, religion, gender, economic circumstances or geography.
The incidence of sexual abuse as a result of the availability of internet-based child pornography and paedophile networks is increasing daily. (UN statement)
Information from the South Australian Inquiry into the Sexual abuse of children in state care, the earlier Senate Inquiry and the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide and Brisbane inquiries which involved allegations of abuse that took place many years ago, indicates that the effects of sexual abuse can last a lifetime.
The least damaging offences are those involving strangers in which there is no violence, no relationship between perpetrator and victim, no betrayal as no trust was involved and no secrecy. Of course results are also better in cases in which the abuse is reported and the child is believed, supported and not blamed. Those situations of course are extremely rare.
In 2003, the Brisbane-based Abused Child Trust calculated the cost of 38,700 cases.
Medical treatment alone amounted to $1.3 billion.
Foster care and other out-of-home care cost $797 million.
Social and psychological costs came to $1.9 billion,
justice system, $794 million.
The overall cost to the taxpayer of 38,700 cases, was reported to be almost $5 billion.
With 150,000 cases of child abuse being reported last year and the number increasingly annually, the projected cost of that abuse is estimated at $19.5 billion per annum.
In 2000, child sexual assault statistics were up 34% on 1999 figures. Of 19,630 victims of sexual assault in 1999-2000, three in five were aged 19 or younger. Approximately one quarter of all offenders were family members. (Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Report 2002). 'The increase in sexual assault is coming entirely from children under 14 years, especially children under 9 years. I don’t regard the increase as alarming; what I regard as alarming is that I suspect we’re only seeing the tip of a very large iceberg.' (Quote from Australian Bureau of Statistics Director Don Weatherburn. 31 May 2001 Newcastle Herald.)
In 2001-2002, 137,938 notifications of Australian children ‘at risk’ of child abuse were reported to State authorities. This is an increase of 22,467 notifications since 2000-2001. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, 2002).
In the period 2001-2002, 30,473 of the cases investigated were substantiated (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2003), a 42% increase in substantiated cases of abuse and neglect over the decade 1990-1991 to 2000-2001 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, 2003).
8,472 children were admitted into care and protection orders and arrangements across Australia in 1999-2000 (Child Protection Australia (1999-2000), Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra).
In Victoria, for example, 36,996 notifications were received in 2000-2001, with only 13,205 investigations being conducted in the same period. This represents 36% of notifications leading to investigations (Victoria Department of Human Services: DHS 2002:13).
Child Protection Australia 2003-04 (Child Welfare Series No. 36) This report is based on information from three Australian national child protection data collections - child protection notifications, investigations and substantiations; children on care and protection orders; and children in out-of-home care. These data are collected each year by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare from the community services departments in each state and territory. Most of the data in this report cover the 2003-04 financial year, although data on trends in child protection are also included. Authored by AIHW. Published 20 January 2005; ISSN 1320-081X; ISBN 1 74024 439 7.
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