What types of abuse were substantiated?
The type of abuse or neglect reported for children who were the subjects of substantiations is the type considered most likely to place the child at risk or be most severe in the short term – generally known as the ‘primary’ type of abuse or neglect.
In 2020–21, emotional abuse was the most common primary type of abuse substantiated for children (55%), followed by neglect (21%), physical abuse (14%), and sexual abuse (10%), with some variation between jurisdictions (Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4: Children who were the subjects of substantiations of notifications received, by primary type of abuse or neglect and state or territory, 2020–21 (per cent)
Notes:
- Data presented in this figure are not comparable across jurisdictions due to differences in the way jurisdictions collect and report data on notifications, investigations and substantiations. See Appendix A for more information.
- Only the type of abuse that is most likely to place the child at risk or be most severe in the short term is reported for the first substantiation in the reporting period.
Chart: AIHW.
Source: Supplementary data table S3.5, AIHW Child Protection Collection 2020–21.
Other types of abuse or neglect might also be recorded as part of a substantiation. The co‑occurrence of abuse and neglect refers to substantiations where both primary and other types of abuse were recorded.
Table 3.2 shows the recorded co-occurrence of primary types of abuse or neglect with other types of abuse or neglect. As well as being the most common primary types reported, emotional abuse (36%) and neglect (30%) were also the most likely types to co‑occur.
Emotional abuse co-occurred in almost half (47%) of substantiations where physical abuse was the primary type of abuse or neglect, and in 36% of substantiations where neglect was the primary type.
Neglect co-occurred in 34% of substantiations where emotional abuse was the primary type of abuse, and in 29% of substantiations where physical abuse was the primary type.
The co-occurrence of sexual abuse was much lower than all other types of abuse or neglect, at less than 3% (Table 3.2).
| Primary type of abuse or neglect(a)(b) | Co-occurring physical abuse | Co-occurring sexual abuse | Co-occurring emotional abuse | Co-occurring neglect | Total number of substantiations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physical abuse | . . | 4.7 | 47.3 | 29.2 | 10,591 |
| Sexual abuse | 11.6 | . . | 18.8 | 12.4 | 6,741 |
| Emotional abuse | 29.1 | 2.4 | . . | 34.2 | 36,376 |
| Neglect | 13.5 | 2.9 | 35.8 | . . | 18,995 |
| Average co-occurrence(c) | 22.4 | 2.9 | 36.0 | 30.4 | 72,703 |
- Not all jurisdictions were able to provide data for all types of co-occurring abuse or neglect – some jurisdictions were able to report only primary and secondary types – so the proportion of co-occurring types of abuse might be understated.
- Excludes cases where the primary type of abuse was unknown.
- ‘Average co-occurrence’ is equal to the total number of cases where the type of abuse or neglect of interest was identified as co-occurring, divided by the total number of substantiations where the given type of abuse or neglect was not the primary type.
Source: AIHW Child Protection Collection 2020–21.