Funding Source: Public Health Agency of Canada
The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) is a national initiative to collect data on children who come to the attention of a child welfare authority due to alleged or suspected abuse and/or neglect. The CIS examines the incidence of reported child maltreatment and the characteristics of the children and families investigated by child welfare authorities in the year the study is conducted.
The first reported child abuse and neglect incidence study conducted in Canada was the 1993 Ontario Incidence Study. The first national cycle of the CIS was completed in 1998 and subsequent studies were conducted in 2003 and 2008. The CIS datasets provide a unique opportunity to compare changes in child maltreatment investigations across Canada over the last decade. The 2008 cycle also includes a number of province-specific studies in British-Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, as well as a national First Nations component. In 2013, province specific studies were conducted in Ontario and Quebec, and in 2014, a province specific study was conducted in Alberta.The next cycle of the CIS is planned for 2018.
Core funding for the three CIS national studies has been provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Injury and Child Maltreatment Division. Additional financial and/or in kind support has been provided by Provincial and Territorial child welfare authorities, Aboriginal child welfare organizations, as well as participating universities and research funding organizatons.
For more information on the CIS, please visit the Child Welfare Research Portal CIS.