How Many Children are Maltreated? - Cps Maltreatment Reports

Collecting child maltreatment data from the states is difficult because each state has its own method of gathering and classifying the information. Most states collect data on an incident basis; that is, they count each time a child is reported for abuse or neglect. If the same child is reported several times in one year, each incident is counted. Consequently, the number of incidents of child maltreatment may be greater than the number of maltreated children.

In 2002 CPS agencies received an estimated 2,617,000 referrals, or reports, alleging the maltreatment of about 4.5 million children (Child Maltreatment 2002, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, Washington, DC, 2004), which may include some children who were reported and counted more than once. States may vary in the rates of child maltreatment reported. States differ not only in definitions of maltreatment but also in the methods of counting reports of abuse. Some states count reports based on the number of incidents or the number of families involved, rather than on the number of children allegedly abused. Other states count all reports to CPS, while others count only investigated reports.

In 2002 forty-two states submitted child-level data for each report of alleged maltreatment. The data include, among other things, the demographics about the children and the perpetrators, types of maltreatment, and dispositions (findings after investigation or assessment of the case). The remaining eight states and the District of Columbia submitted only summary statistics, such as the number of child victims of maltreatment. CPS agencies screened in (accepted for further assessment or investigation) 1,141,820 referrals, or 67.1%, of referrals. Overall, the rate of maltreatment referrals ranged from 12.8 per one thousand children (Pennsylvania) to 78.1 per one thousand children (Montana) under age eighteen. (See Table 4.1.)

Dispositions of Investigated Reports

After a CPS agency screens in a report of child maltreatment, it initiates an investigation. Some states follow one time frame for responding to all reports, while others follow a priority system, investigating high-priority cases within one to twenty-four hours. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), in 2002 twenty-three states that reported response time showed an average response time of fifty-two hours.

Following investigation of the report of child maltreatment, the CPS agency assigns a disposition, or finding, to the report. Prior to 2000, reports of alleged child maltreatment received one of three dispositions—indicated, substantiated, or unsubstantiated. In 2000 several states announced plans to establish an alternative response program to reports of alleged child maltreatment. If the child is at a serious and immediate risk of maltreatment, CPS responds with the traditional formal investigation, which may involve removing the child from the home. If it is determined, however, that the parent likely will not endanger the child, CPS workers use the alternative response to help the family. This involves a more informal approach. Instead of removing the child from the home environment, CPS steps in to assist the whole family by, for example, helping reduce stress that may lead to child abuse through provision of child care, adequate housing,

TABLE 4.1

Screened-in and screened-out referrals, 2002
		Screened-out referrals		Screened-in referrals1		Total referrals
State	Child population	Number	%	Number	%	Number	Rate2
A national estimate of 2,600,000 referrals was calculated by multiplying the national referral rate (35.9) by the national population for all 51 states (72,894,483). The result was rounded to the nearest 100,000.
1For those states that submitted the Child File, the screened-in number is the sum of the reports by disposition. For SDC states, the number is taken directly from the state's report form.
2The national referral rate, 35.9 referrals per 1,000 children in the population, was calculated from the total number of referrals and the child populations in the 39 states reporting both screened in and screened-out referrals.
SOURCE: "Table 2-1. Screened-in and Screened-out Referrals, 2002," in Child Maltreatment 2002, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, Children's Bureau, 2004, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/cm02/cm02.pdf (accessed October 27, 2004)
Alabama	1,107,108	339	1.7	19,281	98.3	19,620	17.7
Alaska	192,428	1,667	12.0	12,182	88.0	13,849	72.0
Arizona	1,476,856	5,381	14.0	33,151	86.0	38,532	26.1
Arkansas	677,522	11,417	37.9	18,697	62.1	30,114	44.4
California
Colorado	1,151,118	12,265	30.5	27,889	69.5	40,154	34.9
Connecticut	872,853	11,114	24.4	34,513	75.6	45,627	52.3
Delaware	189,698	1,590	23.5	5,163	76.5	6,753	35.6
District of Columbia	112,128	189	3.6	5,049	96.4	5,238	46.7
Florida	3,882,271	83,331	36.9	142,547	63.1	225,878	58.2
Georgia	2,268,477	16,456	19.2	69,108	80.8	85,564	37.7
Hawaii
Idaho	370,439	6,573	50.4	6,475	49.6	13,048	35.2
Illinois	3,254,523	0	0.0	58,704	100.0	58,704	18.0
Indiana	1,594,857	16,647	33.3	33,336	66.7	49,983	31.3
Iowa	698,045	12,397	34.8	23,215	65.2	35,612	51.0
Kansas	696,519	12,004	40.7	17,504	59.3	29,508	42.4
Kentucky	931,588	2,081	4.8	41,218	95.2	43,299	46.5
Louisiana
Maine	279,058	11,653	72.3	4,474	27.7	16,127	57.8
Maryland
Massachusetts	1,463,340	23,457	38.0	38,306	62.0	61,763	42.2
Michigan	2,570,264	50,018	40.7	72,999	59.3	123,017	47.9
Minnesota	1,252,125	15,289	46.2	17,770	53.8	33,059	26.4
Mississippi	760,747	4,878	29.5	11,670	70.5	16,548	21.8
Missouri	1,397,461	53,997	50.4	53,116	49.6	107,113	76.6
Montana	216,320	6,567	38.9	10,336	61.1	16,903	78.1
Nebraska	439,393	6,400	46.2	7,463	53.8	13,863	31.6
Nevada
New Hampshire	308,371	9,806	56.6	7,509	43.4	17,315	56.1
New Jersey	2,127,391	0	0.0	39,148	100.0	39,148	18.4
New Mexico	500,506	9,886	41.4	13,995	58.6	23,881	47.7
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota	146,812	2,112	33.9	4,109	66.1	6,221	42.4
Ohio
Oklahoma	873,560	19,370	32.9	39,592	67.1	58,962	67.5
Oregon	855,107	22,492	55.9	17,763	44.1	40,255	47.1
Pennsylvania	2,863,452	12,403	33.8	24,330	66.2	36,733	12.8
Rhode Island	239,248	6,051	45.6	7,211	54.4	13,262	55.4
South Carolina	979,163	7,225	28.0	18,579	72.0	25,804	26.4
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas	6,102,316	22,527	14.8	129,956	85.2	152,483	25.0
Utah	713,012	9,676	33.8	18,965	66.2	28,641	40.2
Vermont
Virginia	1,779,408	21,778	51.4	20,619	48.6	42,397	23.8
Washington	1,513,360	41,297	69.2	18,423	30.8	59,720	39.5
West Virginia	389,171	7,072	32.0	15,052	68.0	22,124	56.8
Wisconsin
Wyoming	122,344	2,555	51.5	2,403	48.5	4,958	40.5
Total	47,368,359	559,960	1,141,820	1,701,780
Weighted average/rate			32.9		67.1		35.9
Number reporting	39	39		39		39

and education in parenting skills. In 2002 ten states implemented the alternative response program. NCANDS used the following dispositions for its 2002 report:

• A disposition of "substantiated" means that sufficient evidence existed to support the allegation of maltreatment or risk of maltreatment.
• A disposition of "indicated or reason to suspect" means that the abuse and/or neglect could not be confirmed, but there was reason to suspect that the child was maltreated or was at risk of maltreatment.
• A disposition of "unsubstantiated" means that no maltreatment occurred or sufficient evidence did not exist to conclude that the child was maltreated or was at risk of being maltreated.
• A disposition of "alternative response victim" means that, when a response other than investigation was provided, the child was identified as a victim of maltreatment.
• A disposition of "alternative response nonvictim" means that, when a response other than investigation was provided, the child was not identified as a victim of maltreatment.

Of the more than 1.1 million reports that were investigated, 60.4% were unsubstantiated. More than one-fourth (26.8%) were substantiated, and 3.5% were indicated. About 0.1% were determined alternative response victim, and 4.7% were alternative response nonvictim. Dispositions that were identified "closed with no finding" referred to cases in which the investigation could not be completed because the family moved out of the jurisdiction, the family could not be found, or the needed reports were not filed within the required time limit. Such dispositions accounted for 1.7%. (See Figure 4.1.)