Major findings from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2018

Abstract

Background: The Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS) is the only source of province-wide statistics on families investigated by child welfare.

Objective: This paper presents key findings from the 2018 cycle of the OIS (OIS-2018) and highlights select policy and practice implications of these findings.

Participants and settings: The OIS-2018 captured information directly from investigating child protection workers about children and families who were the subject of a child protection investigation sampled for inclusion in the study.

Methods: The OIS-2018 sample was drawn in three stages: first, a representative sample of child welfare agencies in Ontario was selected, then cases were sampled over a three-month period within selected agencies, and, finally, investigations that met the study criteria were identified from the sampled cases. The data collected for the OIS-2018 were weighted in order to derive provincial, annual incidence estimates.

Results: An estimated 158,476 child maltreatment-related investigations were conducted in Ontario in 2018. In the majority of investigations, there was no documented physical or emotional harm to the child. The overall incidence of investigations remains unchanged between 2008 and 2018. The only statistically significant difference during this time period is an increase in risk investigations between 2013 and 2018.

Conclusions: Data from the OIS gives Ontario child welfare policymakers and practitioners an empirical basis for making evidence-informed decisions. Findings are compared to the United States and Australia.

Keywords: Child abuse; Child neglect; Child protection; Differential response; Ontario.