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This chapter presents estimates of the number of child maltreatment investigations conducted in Canada during 1998. To aid the reader, the data are first presented in terms of the estimated total number of child investigations, as well as the annual incidence rate calculated per 1,000 children aged 0 to 15 years. These figures refer to child investigations, not to the number of investigated families. Thus, if several children in a family had each been reported as abused or neglected, each investigated child counted as a separate child investigation. Investigations of individual categories of maltreatment (physical and sexual abuse, neglect, andemotional maltreatment) are first described, followed by information on the characteristics of substantiated cases.

Total Child Investigations and Overall Rates of Substantiation

An estimated 135,573 child maltreatment investigations were conducted in Canada in 1998. This figure corresponds to an estimated incidence rate of 21.52 investigations per 1,000 children. It is important to keep in mind, however, that this incidence rate includes all child maltreatment investigations, regardless of whether the report was substantiated or not.

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For physical abuse as the primary reason for investigation, the incidence rate of substantiated cases was an estimated 2.25 per 1,000 children in 1998. Sexual abuse, as the primary reason for investigation, was substantiated in 0.86 cases per 1,000 children, while neglect, as the primary reason for investigation, was substantiated in 3.66 cases per 1,000 children in 1998. Finally, for emotional maltreatment as the primary reason for investigation, the incidence rate of substantiated cases was 2.20 per 1,000 children in 1998. These four rates add up to an estimated 8.97 cases per 1,000 children in which the primary reason for investigation was substantiated. The difference between 9.71 per 1,000 (the overall incidence of substantiated investigations) and 8.97 per 1,000 — 0.74 per 1,000 — is accounted for by those cases in which a form of maltreatment other than the primary reason for investigation was substantiated.¹⁷

We now turn to substantiated cases of specific categories of maltreatment, and look at the characteristics of each.

Physical Abuse 

Physical abuse is the deliberate application of force to any part of a child’s body, which results or may result in a non-accidental injury. It may involve hitting a child a single time, or it may involve a pattern of incidents. Physical abuse also includes behaviour such as shaking, choking, biting, kicking, burning or poisoning a child, holding a child under water, or any other harmful or dangerous use of force or restraint. Child physical abuse is usually connected to physical punishment or is confused with child discipline.

For the purposes of the CIS, cases of investigated maltreatment were classified as physical abuse if the investigated child was thought to have suffered, or to be at substantial risk of suffering, physical harm at the hands of the alleged perpetrator. The physical abuse category includes three subtypes or forms of abuse:

Shaken Baby Syndrome: Brain or neck injuries have resulted from the infant being shaken.

Inappropriate Punishment: Child abuse has occurred as a result of inappropriate punishment (e.g. hitting with hand or object) that has led to physical harm, or put the child at substantial risk of harm. The judgment of appropriateness is based on many factors, including the severity of harm or potential harm, the amount of force used, the type of punishment relative to the age of the child, and the frequency of punishment. The distinction between this category and "other physical abuse" is that in the former the abusive act is performed within a context of punishment, whereas in the latter there is no clear punitive or corrective context.

Other Physical Abuse: Any other form of physical brutality that is inflicted on a child, such as intentionally burning a child or hitting the child with a fist.

Figure 2-3 shows that the majority (69%) of the substantiated investigations of physical abuse involved in appropriate punishment, although other Read More .. severe forms of abuse accounted for almost one-third (31%). Shaken Baby Syndrome, in contrast, accounted for approximately 1% of the substantiated investigations.

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse occurs when a child is used for sexual purposes by an adult or youth. Sexual abuse includes fondling a child’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.

The CIS tracked seven forms or subtypes of sexual abuse, ranging from sexual activity to sexual harassment. If more than one form of sexual abuse was reported for the same incident, workers were asked to identify the most intrusive form. The CIS documented only those cases reported to, and investigated by, child welfare services: many cases of child sexual abuse that do not involve parents or relatives in the home are investigated only by the police. Child welfare services usually become involved in extra-familial sexual abuse cases only if there are concerns about the parents’ ability to protect the child.

The seven forms of sexual abuse include the following:

Sexual Activity Completed: Included oral, vaginal, or anal sexual activities. 

Sexual Activity Attempted: Included attempts to have oral, vaginal, or anal sex.

Touching/Fondling Genitals: Sexual activity involved touching/fondling genitals.

Adult Exposing Genitals to Child: Sexual activity consisted of exposure of genitals.

Sexual Exploitation — Involved in Prostitution or Pornography: Included situations in which an adult sexually exploited a child for purposes of financial gain or other profit.

Sexual Harassment: Included proposition, encouragement, or suggestion of a sexual nature.

Voyeurism: Included activities in which a child was encouraged to exhibit himself/herself for the sexual gratification of the alleged perpetrator. The "Sexual Exploitation/Pornography" code was used if voyeurism included pornographic activities.

As shown in Figure 2-4, touching and fondling of the genitals was the most common form of substantiated child sexual abuse (68% of cases). Attempted and completed intercourse together accounted for over one-third (35%) of all substantiated investigations, and an adult exposing genitals to a child accounted for 12%. Sexual harassment and sexual exploitation were less common, and the number of cases of voyeurism was insufficient to permit reliable estimates of that particular form of sexual abuse. Please note that because multiple forms of sexual abuse were sometimes reported, the individual subtypes add up to more than 100%.

Neglect

Child neglect occurs when a child’s parents or other caregivers are not providing the requisites of a child’s emotional, psychological, and physical development. Physical neglect occurs when a child’s needs for food, clothing, shelter, cleanliness, medical care and protection from harm are not adequately met. Emotional neglect occurs when a child’s need to feel loved, wanted, safe, and worthy is not met. Emotional neglect can range from cases in which the caregiver is simply unavailable, to cases in which the caregiver openly rejects the child. Although a case of physical assault is more likely to come to the attention of public authorities, neglect can represent an equally serious risk to a child.

Unlike abuse, which is usually incident-specific, neglect often involves chronic situations that are not as easily identified as specific incidents. Nevertheless, all provincial and territorial child welfare statutes include neglect or some type of reference to acts of omission, such as failure to supervise or protect, as grounds for investigating maltreatment. The CIS includes eight subtypes or forms of neglect:

Failure to Supervise or Protect Leading to Physical Harm: The child suffered or was at substantial risk of suffering physical harm because of the caregiver’s failure to supervise and protect the child adequately. Failure to protect included situations in which a child was harmed or endangered as a result of a caregiver’s actions (e.g. drunk driving with a child, or engaging in dangerous criminal activities with a child).

Failure to Supervise or Protect Leading to Sexual Abuse: The child has been or was at substantial risk of being sexually molested or sexually exploited, and the caregiver knew or should have known of the possibility of sexual molestation and failed to protect the child adequately.

Physical Neglect: The child has suffered or was at substantial risk of suffering physical harm caused by the caregiver’s failure to care and provide for the child adequately. This includes inadequate nutrition/clothing and unhygienic, dangerous living conditions. There must be evidence or suspicion that the caregiver is at least partially responsible for the situation.

Medical Neglect: The child required medical treatment to cure, prevent, or alleviate physical harm or suffering, and the child’s caregiver did not provide, refused, or was unavailable or unable to consent to the treatment.

Failure to Provide Treatment for Mental, Emotional or Developmental Problem: The child was at substantial risk of suffering from emotional harm as demonstrated by severe anxiety, depression, withdrawal, self-destructive or aggressive behaviour, or suffering from a mental, emotional, or developmental condition that could seriously impair the child’s development. The child’s caregiver did not provide, or refused, or was unavailable or unable to consent to treatment to remedy or alleviate the harm. This category includes failing to provide treatment for school-related problems such as learning and behaviour problems, as well as treatment for infant development problems such as non-organic failure to thrive. This form does not include failure to provide treatment for criminal behaviour (see Permitting Maladaptive/Criminal Behaviour). 

Permitting Maladaptive/Criminal Behaviour: A child has committed a criminal offence with the encouragement of the child’s caregiver, or because of the caregiver’s failure or inability to supervise the child adequately. Alternatively, services or treatment were necessary to prevent a recurrence and the child’s caregiver did not provide, refused, or was unavailable or unable to consent to those services or treatment. There is some overlap between this form of neglect and both the failure to supervise form, and the failure to provide treatment form. If a situation involved both criminal activity and some kind of harm or substantial risk of harm to the child, both forms of maltreatment were included.

Abandonment/Refusal of Custody: The child’s caregiver has died or was unable to exercise custodial rights and did not make adequate provisions for care and custody, or the child was in a placement and the caregiver refused or was unable to take custody.

Educational Neglect: Caregivers knowingly allowed chronic truancy (five or Read More ..ys a month), failed to enroll the child, or repeatedly kept the child at home. If the child had been experiencing mental, emotional, or developmental problems associated with school, and treatment had been offered but caregivers did not co-operate with treatment, the case was classified as failure to provide treatment.

Child neglect was the most frequently investigated category of maltreatment, and had the second highest rate of substantiation. As shown in Figure 2-5, neglect primarily involved failure to supervise the child properly, which led to physical harm (48%). Parents’ reported failure to adequately meet the physical needs of children (physical neglect) accounted for the next largest percentage of substantiated reports (19%), followed by permitting criminal behaviour (14%), abandonment (12%), and educational neglect (11%). Medical neglect and failure to provide necessary treatment for a child were less commonly reported. Again, because of multiple forms of neglect reported, the individual subtypes add up to more than 100%.

Emotional Maltreatment

Emotional maltreatment harms a child’s sense of self, and involves acts or omissions by the parent or caregiver that have caused, or could cause, serious behavioural, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. Examples of emotional maltreatment include verbal threats and put-downs, forcing a child into social isolation, intimidating, exploiting, terrorizing or routinely making unreasonable demands on a child. Emotional maltreatment typically has been a difficult form of maltreatment to define, because it often does not involve a specific incident or visible injury. In addition, its effects, although often severe, may not become apparent until later on in the child’s development. Four forms of emotional maltreatment were tracked by the CIS:

Emotional Abuse: The child has suffered or was at substantial risk of suffering from mental, emotional, or developmental problems caused by overtly hostile, punitive treatment, or habitual or extreme verbal abuse (threatening, belittling, etc.).¹⁸

Non-organic Failure to Thrive: A child under 3 years has suffered a marked retardation or cessation of growth for which no organic reason can be identified. Failure to thrive cases in which inadequate nutrition is the identified cause were classified as physical neglect. Non-organic failure to thrive is generally considered to be a form of emotional neglect; it has been classified as a separate form of emotional maltreatment because of its particular characteristics.

Emotional Neglect: The child has suffered or is at substantial risk of suffering from mental, emotional, or developmental problems caused by inadequate nurturance/affection.

Exposed to Family Violence: A child has been a witness to, or involved with, family violence within his/her home environment. This includes situations in which the child indirectly witnessed the violence (e.g. saw the physical injuries on his/her caregiver the next day).

Figure 2-6 reveals that children’s exposure to family violence was the most common form of emotional maltreatment, accounting for well over half (58%) of the substantiated cases. Emotional abuse (34%) and emotional neglect (16%) were also fairly common, whereas non-organic failure to thrive occurred too infrequently to be estimated. Because multiple forms of emotional maltreatment were sometimes reported, the individual forms add up to more than 100%.

Characteristics of Substantiated Maltreatment

Child maltreatment appears in many different forms, and is seldom caused by a single factor. Significantly, maltreatment emerges within the context of a troubled family or individual, who is often facing considerable stress from factors both within and outside of the family. Numerous risk factors, ranging from financial difficulties to limited community resources, increase the likelihood that a given individual will resort to harmful childrearing methods. Yet, these same risk factors are often shared by other families who do not harm their children, despite high levels of stress. This latter finding underscores the fact that child maltreatment typically results from the interaction of individual, familial, and cultural influences, many of which are documented by the CIS.

This section describes the characteristics of the major categories of substantiated maltreatment documented by the CIS. The characteristics of maltreatment include evidence of associated physical and emotional harm, the duration of the maltreatment, and children’s relationships to the perpetrators, all of which have been shown to be related to increased child distress.¹⁹ The findings are presented in terms of the four major categories of primary maltreatment tracked by the CIS (physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment) for substantiated cases only.

Duration

Duration of maltreatment was documented on a three-point scale as follows:

• Single incident

• Multiple incidents occurring for less than 6 months

• Multiple incidents occurring for Read More .. than 6 months

Well over one-third (43%) of all substantiated cases of child maltreatment continued beyond 6 months in duration. Single incidents and those continuing for less than 6 months in duration accounted for another 44% of the cases. In the remaining cases, investigating workers were not able to determine the duration.

Figure 2-7 shows that emotional maltreatment was most likely to have continued beyond 6 months (56% of substantiated emotional maltreatment was over 6 months in duration), followed by sexual abuse (43%), neglect (43%), and physical abuse (29%). The figure also reveals that physical abuse and sexual abuse were somewhat more likely to involve single incidents (46% and 29% respectively) than the other two categories of maltreatment. This latter finding is understandable, given that both of these categories of maltreatment involve Read More ..adily identified acts or behaviours that are reported, whereas neglect and emotional maltreatment are more likely to be considered chronic conditions with less specific incidents.

Physical and Emotional Harm

The CIS tracked physical harm suspected or known to be caused by the investigated maltreatment. This included suspicious injuries that were subsequently found not to be due to maltreatment, as well as injuries caused by maltreatment.

The nature of the physical harm was documented by investigating workers according to six types of injury or health condition:

Bruises/Cuts/Scrapes: The child suffered various physical hurts visible for at least 48 hours.

Burns and Scalds: The child suffered burns and scalds visible for at least 48 hours. Broken Bones: The child suffered fractured bones.

Head Trauma: The child was a victim of head trauma and required medical attention (e.g. child pushed down a flight of stairs, causing broken teeth).

Other Health Conditions: The child suffered from other physical health conditions, such as complications from untreated asthma or a sexually transmitted disease.

Death: The child died, and during the investigation maltreatment was suspected as the cause of death.

Across all categories of maltreatment, physical harm was documented in 17% of substantiated cases. About three-quarters of the cases involving physical harm did not require treatment, whereas in the remaining one quarter (4% of the total number of substantiated cases) the harm was sufficiently severe to require medical treatment. Most of this harm (65%) involved bruises, cuts, and scrapes, although there were other significant injuries and health conditions resulting from maltreatment as well.

During the 3-month CIS data collection period there was one investigation of a child abuse and neglect fatality at a participating site. This is an insufficient number to allow for the calculation of a national estimate. An average of about 100 child homicides are documented by the police every year across Canada according to the Homicide Survey, which provides information on police-reported characteristics of homicides.²⁰

Not surprisingly, physical abuse was the most common primary category of maltreatment that resulted in physical harm: almost half (44%) of all substantiated physical abuse cases documented physical harm, and some form of medical treatment was required in 6% of these cases. The vast majority of injuries (86%) involved bruises, cuts, and scrapes, and the remaining injuries were evenly distributed over the other types.

Physical harm was also documented in all other primary categories of maltreatment, although to a significantly lesser extent (sexual abuse 8%, neglect 9%, emotional maltreatment 1%). The nature of the physical harm related to sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment was similar, and was fairly evenly split between bruises/cuts/scrapes and other health conditions. In cases of substantiated child neglect, physical harm was generally manifested by other health conditions (67% of the injuries), burns and scalds (12%), or bruises, cuts, and scrapes (16%).

To assess emotional harm, child welfare workers were asked to describe the mental/emotional harm or trauma that was suspected or known to have been caused by the maltreatment. They were asked to include changes in the child’s development (regression, withdrawal), self-regulation (sleep patterns, elimination), and emotions (child crying, clinging, or anxious) that were apparent for at least 48 hours.

Unlike physical injuries, which can usually be linked to specific incidents of maltreatment, it is more difficult to link emotional harm to specific incidents. To account for this difficulty, investigating workers were asked to rate general child functioning in addition to documenting maltreatment-specific mental/emotional harm.

The child functioning ratings are presented later in this report.

Emotional harm was noted in one-third(34%) of all substantiated maltreatment investigations. Problems identified as emotional harm were severe enough to warrant treatment in 21% of the cases, and treatment was not deemed necessary in the remaining 13%.

Understandably, emotional harm was noted most often in sexual abuse cases, since these children have been assaulted and traumatized in ways that seldom produce physical injuries. Nearly half (47%) of the substantiated cases of sexual abuse were described as involving emotional harm. More over, harm was severe enough in 38% of the sample of sexually abused children to require treatment; in 9%, symptoms were noted, but treatment was not considered to be necessary.

Emotional harm was associated with the other three primary categories of maltreatment as well. Again, this finding is not surprising given the nature of child maltreatment and the ways that child victims attempt to cope with or react to such events. About one-third of substantiated cases of physical abuse, neglect and emotional maltreatment involved emotional harm, with treatment required in over half of the cases.

Alleged Perpetrators

In substantiated cases, the alleged perpetrator was the person or persons who were determined by the child welfare investigator to have maltreated the child.²¹ Seven pre-coded classifications of alleged perpetrators were tracked:

Mother: Biological parent

Father: Biological parent

Step-father: Included common-law partner

Step-mother: Included common-law partner

Sibling: Sibling or half-sibling of the child Stranger: Unknown person to the child and family Other: Any other individual

Alleged perpetrators classified under the "other" category were recoded under 22 additional categories, including adoptive or foster parents, grandparents, extended family, family acquaintances, and involved professionals. On the basis of the frequency of response, these were combined into the following nine classifications:

Adoptive Parents/Foster Family: Includes adoptive parents and foster family.

Other Relative: Any other relative, adult or child, who had contact with the investigated child (e.g. grandparent, aunt/uncle, sibling).

Family Friend: Friend of the caregiver(s) living with the child.

Parent’s Boyfriend/ Girlfriend: Parent’s partner not in a caregiving role.

Child’s Friend (peer): Another child considered a friend or peer.

Babysitter: An individual of any age in a babysitting role to the child.

Teacher: Includes teachers but not other school personnel (e.g. caretakers).

Other Professional: Includes recreation, health, and social service professionals.

Other Acquaintance: An individual known to the child’s family.

Across all four categories of substantiated maltreatment, family members or other persons related to the child victim constituted the vast majority (93%) of alleged perpetrators. Not surprisingly, one or both biological parents were most often the alleged perpetrator (with the notable exception of sexual abuse, discussed later). Across all categories of maltreatment, biological mothers were identified as the alleged perpetrator most often (60% of substantiated cases), followed by biological fathers (41%), step-fathers/ common-law partners (9%) and step-mothers/ common-law partners (3%). Other than these parents or parent figures, other relatives were the most frequently identified alleged perpetrators (9%). Foster families and adoptive parents had a negligible number of reports. It should be noted that the CIS only counted new child maltreatment investigations; investigations conducted on open cases were not captured.

Alleged perpetrators who were non-relatives (7% of substantiated cases) included babysitters, family friends, parental partners, teachers, other professionals, acquaintances, and strangers. Over half of these non-related alleged perpetrators (4% of the total) were close to the child and family, such as friends, parent’s boy/girlfriend, and babysitters. It should be noted, however, that in many instances non-familial allegations of abuse are investigated by the police, not by a child welfare authority.²²

Figure 2-8 shows alleged perpetrators who were related to the child, broken down by the four primary categories of maltreatment. Similarly, Figure 2-9 shows alleged perpetrators who were unrelated to the child. The reader should note that some substantiated cases had more than one alleged perpetrator, so these percentages exceed 100%.

Physical abuse was committed largely by biological mothers and fathers (see Figure 2-8). In particular, fathers were the alleged perpetrator in almost half (46%) of substantiated cases of physical abuse, closely followed by mothers (43%). This distribution may be somewhat biased by the fact that 40% of investigated families were female-parent families (discussed in chapter 7 of the CIS Final Report). Among non-relatives (Figure 2-9), perpetrators of substantiated physical abuse were primarily parent’s girlfriend/boyfriend (2%) or babysitters (1%). Although there were substantiated cases of physical abuse involving other non-relatives (such as other acquaintances and teachers), these numbers were very small and less reliable.

Sexual abuse, in contrast to the other categories of maltreatment, was committed much less often by the child’s primary caregiver. Most alleged perpetrators were either other relatives (44% of cases) or non-relatives (29%). Figure 2-8 shows that alleged perpetrators who were related to the child victim were equally likely to be a biological father or stepfather and less likely to be the child’s biological mother or a foster or adoptive parent. Although a specific breakdown on the particular relationship to the child of "other relatives" is not shown, it is clear from Figure 2-8 that this grouping is the single most significant category of individuals who commit such acts (44%).

Non-relative alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse were connected to the child’s life in the vast majority of cases. As shown in Figure 2-9, they were family friends (5%), parent’s boyfriend or girlfriend (2%), babysitters (7%), teachers (4%), other professionals (2%), other acquaintances (8%) and, in some instances, a child’s friend or peer (5%). Notably, very few substantiated sexual abuse cases involved a stranger (2%).

Child neglect, like physical abuse, was largely committed by biological mothers (84%) and biological fathers (36%). Biological mothers may be over-represented in the neglect category because 40% of investigations involved female-parent families. The findings may reflect the interconnection between child neglect, poverty, and single female-headed households. Although child neglect rarely involved non-relatives, babysitters and parent’s girlfriend/ boyfriend taken together were involved in about 3% of the cases (Figure 2-9).

Emotional maltreatment, like physical abuse and neglect, was largely committed by biological mothers (59%) and fathers (59%). Step-fathers were the alleged perpetrators in 14% of cases. In the few instances involving non-relatives (3% of the total), the parent’s boyfriend or girlfriend was implicated.

Summary

An estimated 135,573 child maltreatment investigations were conducted in Canada in 1998, which corresponds to an estimated incidence rate of 21.52 investigations per 1,000 children. This incidence rate includes all child maltreatment investigations, regardless of whether the investigation was substantiated or not.

Almost half (45%) of the investigations were substantiated by the investigating worker. Of the estimated 21.52 investigations per 1,000 children in Canada in 1998, an estimated 9.71 per 1,000 were substantiated, 4.71 per 1,000 were suspected, and 7.09 per 1,000 were unsubstantiated.

The most common primary reason for child maltreatment investigation in Canada was child neglect, which accounted for about 2 out of every 5 investigations of child maltreatment. Child physical abuse was the second most common (31%), followed by emotional maltreatment (19%), and sexual abuse (10%). Emotional maltreatment, however, had the highest substantiation rate, at over half of these investigations. The other categories of maltreatment had similar levels of substantiation: about 1 in 3 cases of physical abuse and sexual abuse were substantiated, and about 2 in 5 cases of neglect.

Most cases of substantiated child physical abuse involved inappropriate punishment, and about one-third involved Read More ..vere forms of abuse. Touching and fondling of the genitals was the most common form of abuse in substantiated child sexual abuse. Neglect involved a number of different parental acts, the most common concern being failure to supervise the child properly leading to physical harm. Children’s exposure to family violence was the most common form of emotional maltreatment, accounting for well over half of the substantiated cases.

Child maltreatment was a chronic event in over a third of the substantiated cases, continuing beyond 6 months in duration. Emotional maltreatment was the most likely type to continue beyond 6 months, followed by neglect, sexual abuse, and physical abuse.

Physical harm to the child was documented in 16% of all substantiated cases. Physical abuse was the most common category of maltreatment that resulted in physical harm. In addition to physical harm, emotional harm was noted in one-third of all substantiated investigations. Emotional harm was noted most often among sexually abused children, and many of these children required treatment for such harm.

There was a clear distinction between the alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse and those of the other three categories of substantiated maltreatment. Biological parents, in particular, were less likely to be the alleged perpetrator of this category of maltreatment, whereas they were the predominant offender in the other three categories. Other relatives and non-relatives constituted the vast majority of alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse, almost all of whom had a known connection to the child victim by virtue of their family ties or responsibilities (e.g. teachers, babysitters, family friends).

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