A Longitudinal Study of Children Reported to the Child Protection Department in Western Australia.

This studyofmanagement informationprovidesdataonall reports, investigations andfindings of maltreatment of children inWestern Australia from their birth in 1990 or 1991 until their eighteenth birthday. It provides prevalence rates of children being reported, investigated and found to have beenmaltreated. A study of more recent cohorts shows trends in recent years. A key finding is that over 13 per cent of all children born in 1990 and 1991 were reported before reaching the age of eighteen, although 71 per cent of them were not found to have beenmaltreated. International data suggest this rate of one in eight children being reportedmay be equalled or exceeded in countrieswith anAnglo-American forensic child protection system. Therewas also a disturbing increase in reports of Aboriginals andTorres Strait Islanders in recent cohortswithanestimatethatalmosthalfof thoseborn in 2004 had been reported before their fifth birthday. These findings add further evidence to the need for socialwork to address and severely limit investigative approaches. In this way, social workers will provide support rather than continuing practices involving high rates of surveillance and a focus on parental blame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]