Child Protective Services Miss Most Abused Kids

Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies are overloaded with cases of child abuse and neglect, but this new study supports the conclusion everyone fears: Those cases are barely the tip of the iceberg.

The study was based on interviews with a random sample of almost 10,000 residents over the age of 15 in Ontario, Canada. They were asked a wide range of health questions, including questions about physical or sexual abuse. Twenty-nine percent reported some kind of abuse when they were growing up, but only 5 percent of those who reported a history of physical abuse as children had contact with CPS, along with only 9 percent of those with a history of sexual abuse. There was no difference among those with severe sexual abuse and those with abuse that was not rated as severe.

Those who had contact with CPS tended to be younger when interviewed (not necessarily when abused) and to be female. The younger ages might indicate that the CPS agencies have done better in recent years at contacting abused children, or that the
interview subjects may be more likely to remember such contact. Sexually abused children were more likely to have had contact with CPS if their parents worked in lower socioeconomic jobs.

Contact with CPS was evaluated by the response to the question: ?Before age 16, did you ever see or talk to anyone from the Children?s Aid Society about difficulties at home?? Although only 3 percent of all the respondents said they had any contact with CPS, not all of that 3 percent reported being abused when they were growing up.

The large number of men and women who say they were abused growing up is worrisome, and it is unclear whether the results would vary greatly if the study was conducted in the United States. Even so, this study has clear implications for youth workers in Canada, the United States and elsewhere, because it indicates that most abused youth do not come to the attention of protective services.