Child protection Australia 2022–23

States and territories have different processes, data systems and record keeping methods for substantiations of abuse in care, which substantially impacts the comparability of data across jurisdictions. Abuse in care reporting may include instances where the person held responsible is:

1. the approved carer
2. another person living in the household or care facility, including other children
3. an employee of the responsible care service/agency or government department
4. a person not living in the household, where a person in (a) or (c) failed to protect the child, or the action or inaction of a person in (a) or (c) contributed to the abuse.

This report includes data on cases of abuse in care where:

• A substantiation was recorded between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023. This may include historical cases where the abuse occurred before 1 July 2022. Historical cases may include children who were in care at the time the abuse occurred, but subsequently exited care before the date of the substantiation (for example, the 2022–23 substantiations data may include children who exited care before 2022–23).
• The child was aged under 18 at the time of the abuse. This may include cases where the child was older at the date of substantiation.

The scope and source of the safety in care data in this report are different to those in the Report on Government Services, so direct comparisons cannot be made between the two reports.