Child abuse cases drop, more kids in care

Fewer children are being reported as abused or neglected in Australia, but more young victims find themselves in state care, a new report has revealed.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released its Child Protection Australia 2009-10 report on Friday.

It found that the number of children subject to a notification - where authorities are alerted to potential abuse or neglect - fell by 10 per cent, from 207,462 to 187,314, in the latest year.

The number of children subject to a substantiation - where departmental intervention is deemed necessary - decreased by four per cent, from 32,641 to 31,295, in the same period.

An eight per cent fall in substantiations was recorded in the six years from 2004-05 to 2009-10.

Institute spokesman Tim Beard said although these figures could reflect a genuine decrease in child abuse and neglect, other factors were probably at play.

"(They) include changes in community awareness regarding child abuse and neglect and or changes to policies, practices and reporting methods," he said.

But while cases of abuse and neglect seem to be less common, the number of children being cared for in some capacity by government departments has significantly increased.

Since 2005, the number of children on care and protection orders increased by 57 per cent, from 24,075 to 37,730.

Meanwhile, young people unable to live with their parents and placed in overnight out-of-home care rose by 51 per cent in the same period, from 23,695 to 35,895 in 2010.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders remained over-represented in all areas of the child protection system.

Indigenous children were almost eight times as likely to be the subject of a departmental intervention, compared to their non-indigenous peers.

The rate of indigenous children on care and protection orders was nine times that of non-indigenous children.

For out-of-home care, the rate was almost 10 times that of children not of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background.

Mr Beard said there were many complex reasons for the discrepancies.

"The reasons ... include the inter-generational effects of separation from family and culture, perceptions arising from cultural differences in child-rearing practices, and the relative socio-economic disadvantage of indigenous Australians," he said.