What happens after a child protection report during pregnancy? Using administrative data to explore 12-month outcomes

Despite the increasing use of prenatal reporting to child protection in Australia and elsewhere, few large studies have examined the consequences of prenatal reporting. This paper explores the association between prenatal reporting and subsequent child protection involvement in a large Australian jurisdiction, focusing on the timing, incidence and nature of this involvement. Administrative data were obtained for the population of pregnant women/infants reported prenatally in one Australian state (New South Wales, NSW), with twelve-month follow-up data included. Descriptive statistics were used, plus univariate logistic and linear regression analyses. Nearly 40 in every 1000 (or 3.86%) pregnancies were reported to NSW child protection services in the current study. For nearly half of those reported prenatally there were no further child protection concerns recorded during the study period. Around 1 in 10 prenatal reports resulted in a removal into care within 12 months of the baby’s birth. In most cases, a removal was preceded by a post-natal report. The study also found that the pregnant women reported tended to be younger and live in urban, disadvantaged areas. Aboriginal women were greatly over-represented: racial disparities commenced as early as during pregnancy. The study shows that most parents do not have their baby removed following a prenatal report, and of those who had their baby removed, only a small number were removed following a prenatal report only. This finding raises a number of important policy and practice questions.