Northern Ireland child protection stats published
By News Northern Ireland,

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has today published the ‘Children Order Child Protection and Referral Statistics for Northern Ireland’ report which show a slight increase of registered children for the same period as last year.

These statistics relate to the quarter ending 30 June 2014 and the key facts and figures are as follows:

Child Protection Register

• At 30 June 2014, 1,817 children were listed on the Child Protection Register in Northern Ireland which represented a decrease (5%) on the previous quarter. Since June 2013, the register count has increased by 2%, from 1,790, with changes by Trust ranging from a decrease of 12% in the Northern Trust to an increase of 16% in the Southern Trust;

• Taking account of local demographics, Register counts per 10,000 children’s population (under 18), ranged from 35.3 in the Northern Trust to 50.3 in the South Eastern Trust; overall there were 42.1 children per 10,000 on the Register at 30 June 2014;

• At 30 June 2014 the largest proportion of children were on the Register due to Neglect Only (32%); 73% of children on the Child Protection Register at 30 June 2014 had been on the Register for less than one year with 2% of children on the Register for three years or longer;

Child Protection Referrals

• Child Protection Referrals for the quarter ending 30 June 2014, were 9% higher than the previous quarter, and 8% below the number of referrals for the same quarter in 2014;

• The largest proportion of all Referrals, 48%, originated from within Social Services, 16% from the PSNI, 13% from School/Educational Welfare Officers, 3% from Relatives and 10% from ‘Other’ sources.

To download the publication, it is available online at: http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/index/stats_research/stats-cib-3/statistics_and_research-cib-pub/children_statistics/children_order_quarterly.htm