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healthy and supported by their families will contribute to building functional andresilient communities.There are no reliable data on actual levels of child abuse and neglect. Substantiatedchild protection notifications are the primary source data for this indicator.Substantiated notifications record children who come into contact with communityservices for protective reasons. Information on sexually transmitted infection (STI)diagnoses in Indigenous children and police administrative data on child sexualassault victims have been provided to supplement the primary data source.Factors underlying child abuse and neglect are well documented (Atkinson 1996;Clapham, Stevenson and Lo 2006; Gordon, Hallahan and Henry 2002;Robertson 2000; UN 2006; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre 2004). Researchersagree that no single risk factor causes child abuse and neglect (Stanley 2005;Memmott et al. 2001; Gordon, Hallahan and Henry 2002). Factors acting incombination, include:• behaviour (for example, domestic violence and alcohol and substance abuse)• environment (for example, overcrowded home environment and poor livingconditions)• psychological factors (for example, high stress levels, lack of family andcommunity resilience and mental health)• socioeconomic factors (for example, economic deprivation, poverty,unemployment, poor education, limited access to social services anddiscrimination/racism).For Indigenous people these factors sit within a broader context of social andhistoric issues, such as loss of lifestyle, loss of culture, deterioration of traditionalsocial controls and marginalisation from society (Matthews 1997; Stanley 2005).Acknowledging the shared causal pathways that contribute to child abuse andneglect increases the potential to devise preventative strategies (Stanley 2005;Libesman 2004).Substantiated child protection notificationsCare should be taken in interpreting the substantiation data. No credible data existon actual levels of child abuse or neglect. The number and rate of substantiationsare collected by community service departments and may under-estimate the trueextent of abuse or neglect occurring within the community, because not all cases arereported. Furthermore, each State and Territory has its own legislation, policies andHEADLINEINDICATORS83