Child protection contact among children of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds: A South Australian linked data study
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(Published version)
Date
2023
Authors
Abdul Rahim, R.
Pilkington, R.
Procter, A.M.
Montgomerie, A.
Mittinty, M.N.
D'Onise, K.
Lynch, J.
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Journal article
Citation
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2023; 59(4):644-652
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Razlyn Abdul Rahim, Rhiannon Pilkington, Alexandra M Procter, Alicia Montgomerie, Murthy N Mittinty, Katina D, Onise and John Lynch
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Abstract
AIM: To describe the cumulative incidence of child protection (CP) system contact, maltreatment type, source of reports to age 7 years, and socio-demographic characteristics for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) Australian children. METHODS: We used CP, education, health, and birth registrations data for children followed from birth up to age 7 from the South Australian Better Evidence, Better Outcomes, Linked Data (SA BEBOLD) platform. PARTICIPANTS: SA born children enrolled in their first year of school from 2009 to 2015 (n = 76 563). CALD defined as non-Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, spoken language other than English, Indigenous or Sign, or had at least one parent born in a non-English speaking country. OUTCOMES MEASURES: For CALD and non-CALD children, we estimated the cumulative incidence (risk) of CP contacts up to age 7, relative risk and risk differences for all levels of CP contact from notification to out-of-home care (OOHC), primary maltreatment type, reporter type, and socio-economic characteristics. Sensitivity analyses explored different population selection criteria and CALD definitions. RESULTS: By age 7, 11.2% of CALD children had 'screened-in' notifications compared to 18.8% of non-CALD (risk difference [RD] 7.6 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 6.9-8.3)), and 0.6% of CALD children experienced OOHC compared to 2.2% of non-CALD (RD 1.6 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 1.3-1.8)). Emotional abuse was the most common substantiated maltreatment type for CALD and neglect for non-CALD. Among both groups, the most common reporter sources were police and education sector. Socio-economic characteristics were broadly similar. Sensitivity analyses results were consistent with primary analyses. CONCLUSION: By age 7, CALD children had lower risk of contact with all levels of CP. Estimates based on primary and sensitivity analyses suggested CALD children were 5-9 percentage points less likely to have a report screened-in, and from 1.0 to 1.7 percentage points less likely to have experienced OOHC.
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First published: 06 February 2023
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© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Paediatrics and Child Health Division (The Royal Australasian College of Physicians). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.