Child Abuse and Neglect: a socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia

Stage 2 Part 3: Reports Of Distinct Children

Part 3: Reports of distinct children

This section presents data on the number of distinct children involved in reports over the decade. It enables an estimation of the breadth of the child protection net, both overall, and by abuse type and reporter type. Table 3.1 shows the total number of reports made regarding distinct individual children over the decade. For example, 10,290 children were subject to only one report over the decade, representing 48% of children in all reports; 3,622 children were each the subject of two reports; 1,831 children were the subject of three reports, and so on. In total, over the decade, 75,382 reports were made, involving 21,349 distinct children.

Table 3.3 outlines yearly differences between the numbers of notifications compared to the number of children in the reports, for the decade. Subsequent tables provide detailed annual breakdowns. Tables 3.8 to 3.12 compare the yearly number of notifications to the number of children in the reports, by abuse type and outcome of report. Tables 3.13 to 3.32 show year-by-year analyses of children subject to a notification compared with the total number of reports by abuse type, outcome of report, and reporter group.

3.1 Number of reports for each child who was the subject of a report, over the decade

Number x of reports per child	Number of children the subject of x reports	Proportion of all children involved in reports, by frequency of report experience	Total number and % of reports made about children the subject of x reports
1	10,290	48%	10,290	14%
2	3,622	17%	7,244	10%
3	1,831	9%	5,493	7%
4	1,253	6%	5,012	7%
5	748	4%	3,740	5%
6	597	3%	3,582	5%
7	492	2%	3,444	5%
8	383	2%	3,064	4%
9	295	1%	2,655	4%
10	233	1%	2,330	3%
11	192	1%	2,112	3%
12	190	1%	2,280	3%
13	171	1%	2,223	3%
14	144	1%	2,016	3%
15	122	1%	1,830	2%
16	106	0%	1,696	2%
17	97		1,649	2%
18	69		1,242	2%
19	71		1,349	2%
20	45		900	1%
21	47		987	1%
22	50		1,100	1%
23	43		989	1%
24	30		720	1%
25	23		575	1%
26	18		468	1%
27	21		567	1%
28	30		840	1%
29	11		319	0%
30	14		420	1%
31	12		372	0%
32	7		224	0%
33	9		297	0%
34	14		476	1%
35	9		315	0%
36	15		540	1%
37	2		74	0%
38	2		76
39	7		273
40	3		120
41	4		164
42	2		84
43	2		86
44	3		132
45	4		180
46	2		92
47	3		141
48	2		96
49	1		49
50	2		100
51	0		0
52	0		0
53	0		0
54	0		0
55	2		110
56	1		56
57	0		0
58	0		0
59	0		0
60	0		0
61	0		0
62	1		62
63	1		63
64	1		64
Total number of children in reports	21,349	Total number of reports	75,382

3.2 Total number of children and total number of reports, over the decade

Total number of reports	75,382
Total number of multiple reports	54,033
Total number of children subject to a report	21,349

3.3 Total number of children and total number of reports, by year

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Totals
Total reports	3,463	5,759	6,699	7,711	8,297	7,444	8,193	9,047	9,335	9,434	75,382
Distinct children in reports	2,251	3,027	3,451	3,996	4,209	4,102	4,390	4,565	4,629	4,656	21,349

Line graph for table 3.3: Total number of children and total number of reports, by year

3.4 Number of distinct children with multiple reports, by year

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Totals
Number of children with more than one report	687	1,135	1,367	1,580	1,662	1,539	1,722	1,946	1,927	1,962	11,059
Number of reports for children with multiple reports	1,899	3,867	4,615	5,295	5,750	4,881	5,525	6,428	6,633	6,740	65,092

3.5 Number of distinct children in reports, by reporter group, by year, with percentage change