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

School personnel	202	21.3%	29	3.1%	2	0.2%	27	2.8%	231
24.3%
Child care workers	5	0.5%	5	0.5%	0	0.0%	5	0.5%	10	1.1%
Social workers	12	1.3%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	12	1.3%
Combined major mandated reporter groups	442	46.6%	70	7.4%	27	2.8%	43	4.5%	512	54.0%
Other reporter groups combined	349	36.8%	88	9.3%	18	1.9%	70	7.4%	437	46.0%
Totals	791	83.4%	158	16.6%	45	4.7%	113	11.9%	949	12.5%
2012
Doctors	12	1.2%	1	0.1%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%	13	1.3%
Nurses	94	9.7%	2	0.2%	0	0.0%	2	0.2%	96	9.9%
Police	152	15.7%	47	4.8%	8	0.8%	39	4.0%	199	20.5%
School personnel	194	20.0%	37	3.8%	7	0.7%	30	3.1%	231	23.8%
Child care workers	12	1.2%	2	0.2%	0	0.0%	2	0.2%	14	1.4%
Social workers	6	0.6%	2	0.2%	1	0.1%	1	0.1%	8	0.8%
Combined major mandated reporter groups	470	48.4%	91	9.4%	16	1.6%	75	7.7%	561	57.8%
Other reporter groups combined	293	30.2%	117	12.0%	20	2.1%	97	10.0%	410	42.2%
Totals	763	78.6%	208	21.4%	36	3.7%	172	17.7%	971	12.8%
Combined Totals	5,809	76.5%	1,785	23.5%	488	6.4%	1,297	17.1%	7,594

2.6.1 Number of reports by combined major mandated reporter groups, by year, abuse type, and outcome

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Emotional Abuse
Not investigated	343	506	704	990	1,525	1,396	1,630	1,751	1,848	1,803
Investigated	281	405	512	652	500	321	261	222	283	355
Substantiated	128	146	296	294	203	180	153	110	163	174
Not Substantiated	153	259	216	358	297	141	108	112	120	181
Total reports:	624	911	1,216	1,642	2,025	1,717	1,891	1,973	2,131	2,158
Neglect
Not investigated	148	342	405	536	724	694	805	1,087	1,148	1,009
Investigated	236	322	354	384	233	236	268	186	252	265
Substantiated	80	138	160	130	104	146	147	95	119	111
Not Substantiated	156	184	194	254	129	90	121	91	133	154
Total reports:	384	664	759	920	957	930	1,073	1,273	1,400	1,274
Physical Abuse
Not investigated	165	337	365	369	510	624	654	656	575	623
Investigated	163	227	271	285	197	143	187	256	261	295
Substantiated	68	59	105	104	45	60	82	85	55	70
Not Substantiated	95	168	166	181	152	83	105	171	206	225
Total reports:	328	564	636	654	707	767	841	912	836	918
Sexual Abuse
Not investigated	120	253	331	318	329	325	355	405	442	470
Investigated	102	140	97	86	46	44	78	85	70	91
Substantiated	33	30	26	39	13	24	26	30	27	16
Not Substantiated	69	110	71	47	33	20	52	55	43	75
Total reports:	222	393	428	404	375	369	433	490	512	561

2.6.2 Number of reports by other reporter groups combined, by year, abuse type, and outcome

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Emotional Abuse
Not investigated	480	651	807	1,178	1,771	1,469	1,759	1,880	1,986	2,069
Investigated	368	697	716	946	587	293	319	257	328	358
Substantiated	148	242	406	418	209	161	167	125	161	172
Not Substantiated	220	455	310	528	378	132	152	132	167	186