U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Administration on Children, Youth, and Families
Children's Bureau
NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
DATA SYSTEM (NCANDS)
Summary Data Component
GLOSSARY
1997 Data Year
AUGUST 1998
GLOSSARY
The glossary contains working definitions of the terms that are found in the Summary Data Component (SDC) Survey of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). The terms are presented in alphabetical order.
AFRICAN AMERICAN: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
AGE: Age in years at the time of the report of abuse or neglect or as of December 31 of the reporting year.
ALLEGATION OF MALTREATMENT: A notification to the child protective services (CPS) agency of suspected maltreatment of a child.
ALLEGED VICTIM: Child about whom a report regarding maltreatment has been made to a CPS agency.
AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKA NATIVE: A person having racial origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America(including Central America), and who maintains tribal or community affiliation.
ANONYMOUS OR UNKNOWN REPORTER: An individual who reports a suspected incident of child maltreatment without identifying himself or herself; or the type of reporter is unknown.
ASIAN: A person having racial origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASSESSMENT: A process by which the CPS agency determines whether the child and/or other persons involved in the report of alleged maltreatment is in need of services.
CHILD: A person younger than 18 years of age or considered to be a minor under State law.
CHILD-BASED: A method of reporting in which each child alleged to be a victim of maltreatment is counted as one report. A child-based report does not include multiple children. See also FAMILY-BASED.
CHILD DAY CARE PROVIDER(S): A person who has temporary caretaker responsibility for the child and who is not related to the child, such as a day care center staff member, a family day care provider, or a baby-sitter. Does not include persons with legal custody or guardianship of the child.
CHILD FATALITY: See DIED AS A RESULT OF CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT
CHILD VICTIM: A child for whom an incident of abuse or neglect has been substantiated or indicated by an investigation or assessment. A State may decide to include some children with other dispositions as victims.
CHILDREN/FAMILIES IN NEED OF SERVICES: A term used to specify the decision that a child or family is in need of services by the child welfare agency as the result of an assessment that was conducted. This disposition is applicable only to States that have a diversified response system. Children or families who are so classified do not receive a disposition of substantiated, indicated, or unsubstantiated. See also DIVERSIFIED RESPONSE SYSTEM.
CLOSED WITHOUT A FINDING: Disposition that does not conclude with a specific finding because the investigation could not be completed. Reasons for this might include, for example, that a family moved out of the jurisdiction, that a family could not be located, or that necessary diagnostic or other reports were not received within required time limits.
COURT ACTION: Legal action initiated by a representative of the CPS agency on behalf of the child. This includes, for instance, authorization to place the child, filing for temporary custody, dependency, or termination of parental rights. It does not include criminal proceedings against a perpetrator.
COURT-APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVE: A person required to be appointed by the court to represent a child in a neglect or abuse proceeding. This person may be an attorney or a court-appointed special advocate (or both) and is often referred to as a guardian ad litem. The court-appointed representative makes recommendations to the court concerning the best interests of the child.
DIED AS A RESULT OF CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT: Death caused directly by an injury suffered through abuse and/or neglect or death in which abuse and/or neglect was a primary contributing factor.
DISPOSITION: The determination by the social services agency or a court that the evidence is or is not sufficient under State law or policy to conclude that abuse and/or neglect occurred. Where State law permits, dispositions may also include the determination that the child is at risk of being abused or neglected, or that additional services are needed.
DIVERSIFIED RESPONSE SYSTEM: CPS practice in which an assessment or other alternative response to a report of alleged maltreatment may be made, instead of an investigation. Diversified responses to reports usually result in a determination as to whether services are needed. See CHILDREN/FAMILIES IN NEED OF SERVICES, ASSESSMENT, and INVESTIGATION.
EDUCATION PERSONNEL: An employee of an educational institution or program; includes teachers, teacher assistants, administrators, Head Start staff, and others directly associated with the delivery of educational services.
EMOTIONAL ABUSE OR NEGLECT: See PSYCHOLOGICAL OR EMOTIONAL ABUSE OR NEGLECT.
ETHNICITY: See HISPANIC OR LATINO ETHNICITY.
FAMILY: A group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, adoption, or emotional ties.
FAMILY-BASED: A type of reporting system that counts as a report the family unit involved in a child abuse or neglect allegation regardless of the number of children involved. See also CHILD-BASED.
FAMILY PRESERVATION SERVICES: Services designed to protect children from harm and to assist families at risk or in crisis, including services to prevent placement, to support the reunification of children with their families, or to support the continued placement of children in adoptive homes or other permanent living arrangements.
FATALITY: See DIED AS A RESULT OF CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT.
FOSTER CARE: A 24-hour substitute care for all children placed away from their parents or guardians and for whom the State agency has placement and care responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, family foster homes, foster homes of relatives, group homes, emergency shelters, residential facilities, child care institutions, and pre-adoptive homes regardless of whether the foster care facility is licensed and whether payments are made by the State or local agency for the care of the child or whether there is Federal matching of any payments that are made.
FOSTER PARENT(S): Individual(s) licensed to provide a home for orphaned, abused, neglected, delinquent or disabled children, usually with the approval of the government or a social service agency. This individual can be a relative or a non-relative.
FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS: Non-relatives acquainted with the child, the parent, or the caretaker, including landlords, clergy, youth group workers (e.g., Scout leaders, Little League coaches). May also be a person living in close geographical proximity to the child or family.
FTE (FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT): A method of deriving the workforce from hours worked. This involves dividing the total annual number of hours worked in a designated function by the annual number of hours considered by the State to constitute full-time employment. For example, if a State has recorded that 10,600 hours were worked in a function during the calendar year, and the State considers full-time employment to be 1,860 hours a year, the number of FTE's in the function would be 5.7 (10,600 divided by 1,860).
GUARDIAN AD LITEM: SeeCOURT-APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVE.
HISPANIC OR LATINO ETHNICITY: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
INDICATED: An investigation disposition that concludes that although maltreatment could not be substantiated under State law or policy, there is reason to suspect that the child may have been maltreated or was at risk of maltreatment. This is applicable only to States that distinguish between substantiated and indicated dispositions.
INITIAL INVESTIGATION: Face-to-face contact with the alleged victim, when this is appropriate, or contact with another person who can provide information essential to the disposition of the investigation or assessment.
INITIAL SCREENING DECISION: The decision by the CPS agency to conduct either an investigation or an assessment of an allegation of child maltreatment. The screening process may include more than one decision. See also SCREENING AND INTAKE, INVESTIGATION.
IN NEED OF SERVICES: See CHILDREN/FAMILIES IN NEED OF SERVICES.
INTENTIONALLY FALSE: An unsubstantiated investigation disposition about which it has been concluded that the person reporting the alleged incident of maltreatment knew that the allegation was false.
INVESTIGATION: The gathering of objective information to determine whether the child has been, or is at risk of being, maltreated. Generally includes face-to-face contact with the victim and results in a disposition as to whether the alleged report is substantiated or not.
LEGAL, LAW ENFORCEMENT, OR CRIMINAL JUSTICE PERSONNEL: Those employed by a local, State, Tribal, or Federal justice agency, including law enforcement, courts, district attorneys' offices, probation or other community corrections agencies, and correctional facilities.
MALTREATMENT: Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm. State definitions may include additional criteria.
MEDICAL NEGLECT: A type of maltreatment due to failure by the caretaker to provide for the appropriate health care of the child, although financially able to do so or offered financial or other means to do so. This may include perinatal exposure to drugs.
MEDICAL PERSONNEL: Those employed by a medical facility or practice, including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, emergency medical technicians, dentists, dental assistants and technicians, chiropractors, and coroners.
MENTAL HEALTH PERSONNEL: Those employed by a mental health facility or practice, including among others, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists.
NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDER: A person having racial origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
NEGLECT OR DEPRIVATION OF NECESSITIES: A type of maltreatment that refers to the failure by the caretaker to provide needed, age-appropriate care, although financially able to do so or offered financial or other means to do so.
NON-CARETAKER(S): A person who is not responsible for the care and supervision of the child. Includes school personnel, friends, neighbors, etc.
NOT SUBSTANTIATED: Investigation disposition that determines that there is not sufficient evidence under State law or policy to conclude that the child has been maltreated or is at risk of being maltreated. Equivalent terms may be "Unfounded" or "Unsubstantiated."
OTHER RELATIVE OR HOUSEHOLD MEMBER: A relative or household member in a caretaking relationship who has some responsibility for the supervision of the child. Can include grandparents, aunts, uncles, guardians, paramours, etc. who are responsible for the care and supervision of the child. Relatives or household members with no such responsibility are NON-CARETAKERS.
OUT-OF-COURT CONTACTS: Contact, which is not part of the actual judicial hearing, between the court-appointed representative and the child victim. Such contacts enable the court-appointed representative to obtain a first-hand understanding of the situation and needs of the child victim, and to make recommendations to the court concerning the best interests of the child.
PARENT(S): The birth mother/father, adoptive mother/father, or step mother/father of the child.
PERPETRATOR: The person who has been determined to have caused or knowingly allowed the maltreatment of the child.
PHYSICAL ABUSE: A type of maltreatment that refers to physical acts that caused or could have caused physical injury to the child.
PREVENTIVE SERVICES: Services aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect. Such services may be directed at specific populations identified as being at increased risk of becoming abusive and may be designed to increase the strength and stability of families, to increase parents' confidence and competence in their parenting abilities, and to afford children a stable and supportive environment. They include child abuse and neglect preventive services provided through Federal funds such as the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant, the Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant, the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program (title IVB, subpart 2), Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, the Social Services Block Grant (title XX), and State and local funds. Preventive services do not include public awareness campaigns.
PRIORITY STANDARD: The State or local requirements for responding to a report alleging child abuse or neglect based upon the initial screening decision. For example: immediate, within 1-2 hours, within 72 hours, etc.
PSYCHOLOGICAL OR EMOTIONAL ABUSE OR NEGLECT: A form of maltreatment that results in impaired psychological functioning and development. It frequently occurs as verbal abuse or excessive demands on a child's performance and may cause the child to have a negative self-image and disturbed behavior.
RACE: The racial group(s) with which the individual identifies himself or herself as a member, or with which the parent identifies the child as a member.
RECEIPT OF REPORT: The log-in of a call to the agency from a reporter alleging child maltreatment.
RELATIONSHIP OF PERPETRATOR TO VICTIM: This refers to the primary role of the perpetrator in relation to the child victim of maltreatment. The relationship may be established with each child in the investigated report or with one child in the report, regardless of how many children are victims of maltreatment.
REMOVED (FROM THE HOME): The removal of the child from his/her normal place of residence to a substitute care setting by a CPS or social services agency. See FOSTER CARE.
REPORT: Notification to the CPS agency of suspected child maltreatment.
REPORTING PERIOD: The 12-month period for which data are submitted to the NCANDS (e.g., calendar year 1997, fiscal year 1997, etc.).
RESIDENTIAL FACILITY STAFF: Employees of a public or private group residential facility, including emergency shelters, group homes, and institutions.
RESPONSE TIME: The time from receipt of report to initial investigation.
REUNITED (WITH THEIR FAMILIES): Describes children who have been in foster care and are subsequently returned to reside in their principal caretaker's home.
SCREENED OUT: The decision by the CPS agency not to conduct an investigation or assessment. This decision may be the result of an inappropriate referral, lack of information, or a decision to refer the report to another agency.
SCREENING AND INTAKE: Portion of the case flow from point of contact with the reporter to the time that the report is assigned to a worker, or to a CPS supervisor for assignment to a worker, for investigation or assessment of the allegation. See also INITIAL SCREENING DECISION.
SERVICES: Noninvestigative services other than CPS investigation or assessment provided as a result of an investigation or assessment or continued as a result of an investigation or assessment.
SEXUAL ABUSE: The employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct, or the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children.
SOCIAL SERVICE PERSONNEL: Employees of a public or private social services or social welfare agency or other social workers and counselors who provide similar services.
SOURCE (OF REPORT): Person who makes a report to the CPS agency alleging child maltreatment.
STATE/TERRITORY: The two-letter abbreviation for the State or other Federal jurisdiction that submits data to the NCANDS.
SUBJECT OF A REPORT: The child or children about whom a report of abuse or neglect is made.
SUBSTANTIATED: An investigation disposition that concludes that the allegation of maltreatment or risk of maltreatment was supported or founded by State law or State policy. This is the highest level of finding by a State agency. See also INDICATED.
SUBSTITUTE CARE PROVIDERS: A person providing out-of-home care to children, such as foster parent(s) or residential facility staff.
UNSUBSTANTIATED: See NOT SUBSTANTIATED.
VICTIM: See CHILD VICTIM.
VICTIM-BASED: A method of counting in which each child victim is counted as one report. A victim-based report does not include multiple victims. See also CHILD-BASED.
WHITE: A person having racial origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Attachment:
1997 Summary Data Component Survey
