More child abuse cases in Australia: Report

Sydney, July 25 (IANS) The number of cases of child abuse in Australia have increased by 30 percent over a two year period, authorities said Friday.

According to the figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), neglect and emotional abuse were the most common primary types of abuse, reported Xinhua.

“Between 2010-11 and 2012-13, there was a 29 percent increase in the number of children who were the subject of substantiations, rising from 31,527 to 40,571,” said AIHW spokesperson Pamela Kinnear in a statement.

More than 135,000 Australian children received child protection services in 2012-13, the report said.

Children most at risk are from poorer backgrounds with 42 percent of abuse victims from areas of lowest socioeconomic status.

The AIHW figures showed that indigenous children were at the highest risk, being eight times as likely as non-indigenous children to be receiving child protection services.

Emotional abuse accounted for 38 percent of substantiated cases, followed by neglect (28 percent), physical abuse (20 percent) and sexual abuse (13 percent).