Queensland Government
Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services

Table of contents:

Graphs

Number of notifications and substantiations, Queensland, 2006-07 to 2010-11 Number of notifications and substantiations, Queensland, 2006-07 to 2010-11

YearNotificationsSubstantiations
2006-07 28511 10108
2007-08 25003 8028
2008-09 23408 7315
2009-10 21885 6922
2010-11 21655 6598

Number of children subject to a substantiation, by most serious harm type, Queensland, 2006-07 to 2010-11 Number of children subject to a substantiation, by most serious harm type, Queensland, 2006-07 to 2010-11

YearPhysicalSexualEmotionalNeglect
2006-07 2074 591 3957 2223
2007-08 2036 576 2702 2017
2008-09 1695 471 2510 1952
2009-10 1364 382 2512 1960
2010-11 1287 370 2382 1902

Proportion of substantiations, by primary source of notification, Queensland, 2010-11 Proportion of substantiations, by primary source of notification, Queensland, 2010-11

YearParent/ guardianOther relativeFriend/ neighbourSchool personnelPoliceHealth sourcesAll other sources
2009-10 7.35336608 % 5.14302225 % 4.39179428 % 12.13522103 % 30.4825195 % 18.08725802 % 22 %
2010-11 6.759624129 % 5.47135496 % 4.122461352 % 13.200969991 % 30.569869657 % 18.111548954 % 21.688390421 %

Rate of children subject to a substantiation, per 1,000 children aged 0-17 years, by Indigenous status, Queensland, 2006-07 to 2010-11 Rate of children subject to a substantiation, per 1,000 children aged 0-17 years, by Indigenous status, Queensland, 2006-07 to 2010-11

YearIndigenousNon-Indigenous
2006-07 25.9 7.6
2007-08 23.9 6
2008-09 25.7 5
2009-10 25.5 4.4
2010-11 24.7 4.1

Tables

DescriptionAnnualQuarterly
S.1: Substantiations and children subject to a substantiation, by Indigenous status, Queensland Excel (XLS, 46 KB) Excel (XLS, 45 KB)
S.2: Substantiations, by primary source of notification, Queensland Excel (XLS, 47 KB) Excel (XLS, 47 KB)
S.3: Notifications that were subsequently substantiated, by primary source of notification, Queensland Excel (XLS, 51 KB) Excel (XLS, 52 KB)
S.4: Substantiations, by most serious harm type and sex of the person believed responsible, Queensland Excel (XLS, 43 KB) Excel (XLS, 43 KB)
S.5: Substantiations and whether the child was in need of protection, Queensland Excel (XLS, 45 KB) Excel (XLS, 44 KB)
S.6: Children subject to a substantiation, by most serious harm type and Indigenous status, Queensland Excel (XLS, 45 KB) Excel (XLS, 44 KB)
S.7: Children subject to a substantiation, by most serious harm type and age group, Queensland Excel (XLS, 58 KB) Excel (XLS, 58 KB)
S.8: Children subject to a substantiation by family of residence, Queensland Excel (XLS, 46 KB) Excel (XLS, 45 KB)
S.9: Substantiations and children subject to a substantiation, by child safety zone, Queensland Excel (XLS, 28 KB)  
S.10: Substantiations and children subject to a substantiation, by region, Queensland Excel (XLS, 28 KB) Excel (XLS, 28 KB)

Table notes

What is a substantiation?

Harm to a child or young person can be caused by physical or emotional abuse, neglect or sexual abuse.

An investigation and assessment will have a substantiated outcome when it is assessed that significant harm has been experienced by the child and/or there are identifiable factors that indicate the child is at unacceptable risk of being harmed in the future. Where there is unacceptable risk of future harm and the child does not have a parent willing to protect them, a child will be substantiated - in need of protection. Where there is no unacceptable risk of future harm (but harm occurred in the past), a child will be substantiated - not in need of protection.

Why this topic is important

Children who are harmed or neglected, including those who witness domestic violence, often exhibit emotional, cognitive, and behavioural problems. These include:

  • depression
  • suicidal behaviour
  • difficulty in school
  • use of alcohol and other drugs
  • early sexual activity.

Without proper support, children and young people who are harmed or neglected may also be at greater risk of repeating the cycle of violence by entering into violent relationships as teens and adults or harming their own children.

Trends

Substantiation figures are a count of those notifications recorded during 2010-11 where the investigation was finalised and the outcome recorded as substantiated by the end of August.

In 2010-11, the department recorded 6,598 substantiations relating to 5,941 children. Of these, 4,237 were substantiated in need of protection and 2,361 were substantiated not in need of protection.

Since 2006-07 there has been a decrease in the number of overall substantiations and children subject to substantiation.

This decrease is likely to be due to a number of factors, including:

  • the decrease in notifications recorded over the same period.
  • the introduction of Structured Decision Making (SDM) tools in 2005-06. SDM has had a moderating effect on the number of substantiations by improving consistency in assessment and targeting resources to those families most at risk, helping to prevent further substantiations for those clients.
  • an increase in the proportion of investigations and assessments resulting in an unsubstantiation. The proportion of finalised investigations and assessments resulting in an unsubstantiation, has increased from 48.8 per cent in 2006-07 to 59.4 per cent in 2010-11.
  • recording changes. Each notification recorded on the system must have an associated investigation and assessment outcome (eg: substantiated). The recording change introduced from March 2007 (whereby additional concerns are no longer recorded as notifications), has therefore contributed to a decrease in both the number of notifications and substantiations recorded on the ICMS.

The recording changes detailed above mean substantiation figures are not strictly comparable across years, and time series comparisons should be interpreted with caution. The substantiation figure with the greatest comparability is the number of children subject to a substantiation.

The number of children subject to a substantiation decreased from 8,845 children in 2006-07 to 5,941 children in 2010-11. This has seen the rate of all children subject to a substantiation fall from 8.8 per 1,000 children aged 0-17 years in 2006-07 to 5.5 per 1,000 children in 2010-11.

As a rate per 1,000 of Queensland children aged 0-17 years, Indigenous children had a higher rate of substantiation than non-Indigenous children with 24.7 and 4.1 respectively in 2010-11. This has been a consistent trend over the last five years with Indigenous children having a higher rate of substantiation than non-Indigenous children.