["Child &Family Social Work, Volume 31, Issue 2, Page 869-880, May 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThe relationship between poverty and child protection demand is complex. Using macro‐level data from 293 Finnish municipalities, this study applies hierarchical linear regression and mediation analysis to examine how poverty shapes community perceptions of child protection demand. The hierarchical linear regression findings reveal that poverty is independently associated with higher child protection demand, confirming the role of poverty as a significant risk factor for child maltreatment and services demand. This association becomes negative when poverty is considered alongside other risk factors, such as low education, single‐parent households, mental health issues and crime. This shift aligns with the inverse intervention law and the wallpaper effect of poverty, suggesting that higher poverty levels may raise the threshold for child welfare notifications. Mediation analysis further demonstrates that the accumulation of poverty and other vulnerabilities indirectly increases child protection demand. Although these findings emphasize correlation rather than causality, they advance a more nuanced understanding of poverty's role in shaping child protection demand, highlighting the interaction of poverty with other social vulnerabilities. The study calls for integrated, multi‐level responses in research and policy.\n"]