Confirmed cases of abuse reported to Child Youth and Family hit a five-year high in Wanganui last year.
Child, Youth and Family found evidence of abuse in more cases last year than in each of the previous four years, official figures reveal.
Details released to the Wanganui Chronicle under the Official Information Act showed there were 485 substantiated cases of abuse in the past financial year.
The number of notifications received was higher in 2011, however, at 4419 cases. Last year, the agency received 3284 notifications of suspected abuse.
Cases where there was concern for the care and protection of a child or youth was highest in 2012, at 1509 cases. Last year, Child, Youth and Family found such concerns in 1079 cases.
Tim Metcalfe, executive officer of social work service Jigsaw Whanganui, said there was an "unacceptable" level of abuse in the community - but the situation wasn't necessarily worsening.
"Any report of concern is serious," he said. "Child, Youth and Family has done a huge amount of work over the last two or three years to strengthen its practice.
"I also think there's much better recognition among community agencies and health and education providers about what needs to go to Child, Youth and Family and what they should deal with. I don't think these figures necessarily indicate that things are getting worse."
Overall support for families had improved, he said.
"What might have happened before is people might have just rung [Child, Youth and Family] with very vague sorts of concerns, but not given any sound description to help them in their investigation.
"Now there's much better connecting happening across the board; groups working together, strengthened relationships and much better clarification of roles.
"It's enabled better information going to Child, Youth and Family - meaning they are able to better do their very important role of investigating reports."
Nationally, more than 700,000 notifications of abuse were made to Child, Youth and Family in the past five financial years.
The service found evidence of abuse in more than 100,000 of the cases. An additional 180,000 cases highlighted concern for the care and protection of the child and required further action.
The number of referrals peaked in the 2012 financial year at 152,407. More cases had evidence of abuse and needed further action in 2013, however.
Last year, the service received 146,657 referrals. Further action was required in 54,065 of the cases - 19,623 of which included substantiated abuse.
Almost half of referrals were made by police after a family violence callout in which children or young people were involved. Referrals also came from court, education and health officials, as well as other police and family members.
Child, Youth and Family deputy chief executive Bernadine Mackenzie said the focus was on creating community environments where abuse and neglect of children and young people wasn't tolerated.
"Child, Youth and Family always works with the best interests of the child or young person in mind," she said.
The passing of the Vulnerable Children Bill in July last year meant agencies that worked with children now had to have policies around how to recognise suspected child abuse and neglect, she said.
"This is supported by a code of practice that makes it clear that everyone working with children has a responsibility to report suspected abuse or neglect."
When a report was received, the agency's first step was to determine if further action was required, Ms Mackenzie said.
In cases where the need for further action was identified, the agency would assess the situation and carry out investigations where appropriate, she said.
It would always investigate cases of serious physical abuse, sexual abuse, serious neglect, or a child or young person witnessing serious abuse, she said.