Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are 18 or under and encourage family stability. These typically include investigation of alleged child abuse, child protective services, foster care, adoption services, and services aimed at supporting at-risk families so they can remain intact.

Most children who come to the attention of the child welfare system do so because of any of the following situations, which are often collectively termed child abuse:

• Neglect including the failure to take adequate measures to safeguard a child from harm and/or gross negligence in providing for a child's basic needs
• Emotional abuse
• Child sexual abuse
• Physical abuse
• Psychological abuse

The United States government's Administration for Children and Families reported that in 2004 approximately 3.5 million children were involved in investigations of alleged abuse or neglect in the US, while an estimated 872,000 children were determined to have been abused or neglected and an estimated 1,490 children died that year because of abuse or neglect.