Appendix D
State Commentary
Child Maltreatment 2003
Alabama
Delores Davis
Functional Analyst
Family Services Partnership/Assist Unit
Alabama Department of Human Resources
50 Ripley Street
Montgomery, AL 36130-1801
334-242-1372
334-353-1177 Fax
ddavis@dhr.state.al.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The estimate of child protective services (CPS) workers is based on current, filled CPS agency positions and the caseload standards set for CPS functions.
Victims
Effective September 2002, the policy for determining "mental abuse/neglect" was revised to require a written statement based on a mental health professional evaluation. Prior to this policy revision, a determination of "mental abuse/neglect" could be made by either a CPS worker or a mental health professional.
Perpetrators
State law does not allow a person younger than 14 years to be identified as a perpetrator.
Alaska
Kristen Tromble
Research Analyst
Office of Children's Services
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
130 Seward Street, Room 406
Juneau, AK 99811
907-465-3208
907-465-3397 Fax
kristen_tromble@health.state.ak.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The State uses child-based reporting. There is one report or investigation per child, per incident. Reasons for screening out reports include insufficient information, workload adjustment (used when not enough staff are available to respond to the lowest priority reports), dual track (contracting agencies provide assessment and referral services to low-priority reports of harm), tribal jurisdiction (a tribe has assumed jurisdiction, has custody of the child, and conducts the investigation), and military (referred to the military for followup).
Social services personnel includes CPS agencies, human service agencies, and Native American agencies or tribes. Medical personnel includes mental health personnel. Parents includes custodial and noncustodial parents. Friends and neighbors includes partners of custodial and noncustodial parents. The category "other" report source includes community members, grant agencies, and the military.
Staff positions for CPS functions and for screening and intake functions may not have been actively staffed for the entire year.
In regard to response time to investigation, the State records for reports the date received, date screened, date assigned for investigation, and date disposed. The time or date of actual contact is not available. Eighty-one percent of reports were assigned within 1 day following the day of receipt.
With regard to the average response time with respect to the provision of services, 49 percent of these reports were responded to within 1 day following the day of receipt.
Victims
Substantiated reports are those where the available facts indicate a child has suffered harm as a result of abuse or neglect as defined in State statute. Indicated includes "unconfirmed" reports, defined as when the worker is unable to determine if a child has suffered harm as a result of abuse or neglect. Unsubstantiated includes intentionally false and "invalid" reports. "Invalid" reports are defined as those where there are no facts to support the allegation that a child has suffered abuse or neglect.
The State has a very high proportion of substantiated and indicated dispositions, compared to unsubstantiated dispositions. This difference may be due to the way the State defines harm. For instance, in 1998, the child protection statute was changed to include exposure to domestic violence (reported as psychological or emotional abuse or neglect). This increased the number of substantiated reports.
Children are counted once for each report disposed during the year. A report where more than one type of abuse is substantiated or indicated is recorded in the category of the most serious abuse with the most serious disposition.
Neglect includes medical neglect and abandonment. Only one race or ethnicity is recorded. No child has both a Hispanic ethnicity and a race.
The State's information system requires the entry of a birth date. If the actual date is unknown, an estimated date is entered. Each child is counted once per report in the age group at the time of the report.
Fatalities
The number of fatalities includes deaths from child maltreatment by a primary caregiver. A primary caregiver is defined as the individual responsible—including parents, relatives, and babysitters—for care of the child. The children and families involved with these deaths may or may not have had prior contact with the State's Office of Children's Services.
Services
The number of children who received services includes children who were placed in out-of-home care during the investigation or had a continuing or new family case opened for services.
The count of child victims with court action includes only children for whom temporary custody was requested during the investigation. Other court actions were not included.
State law mandates the appointment of a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) in every court case in which abuse or neglect is alleged. However, a shortage of GALs in some remote areas means this requirement is not always met. The Office of Public Advocacy estimates that GALs are appointed for 95-99 percent of all cases.
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers are required to see their child clients at least twice per month. The Office of Public Advocacy indicated that in the more populous areas of Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Bethel, caseloads are so large that GALs may only see children three or four times per year outside of court. GALs in rural areas may see children twice as often. Information on GALS was not reported to NCANDS for 2003.
Arizona
Nicholas Espadas
Manager
Evaluation and Statistics Unit
Division of Children, Youth and Families
Arizona Department of Economic Security
P.O. Box 6123, Site 940-A
1789 West Jefferson
Phoenix, AZ 85005
602-542-3969
602-542-3330 Fax
nicholas.espadas@mail.de.state.az.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Probable cause
Reports
The number of screened-out referrals includes those in which the alleged abuse or neglect occurred on a reservation or military base and those that were referred to a private contractor in the Family Builders program. During the program, the families are taught a variety of skills, including crisis and anger management. The referrals selected for the Family Builders program show a low risk of harm to the children associated with the allegations.
Reports classified as "other" disposition are low-priority reports (with a proportionately larger number of children) directly referred to social services agencies for voluntary services. These reports are not assigned to a local office for investigation.
Perpetrators
The State information system is limited to the designation of one perpetrator per child per allegation.
Arkansas
Darcy Dinning
CHRIS Project Manager
Office of Systems and Technology
Arkansas Department of Human Services
P.O. Box 1437 Slot N101
617 Main Street
Little Rock, AR 72204
501-682-2684
501-682-1376 Fax
Darcy.Dinning@mail.state.ar.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The average time from report to investigation was 95 hours. This number exceeded the norm; 58 investigations had to be reassigned to another investigator due to staff shortages in two counties that caused the response time to increase to 95 hours.
The screening, intake, and investigation or assessment staff includes 66 Arkansas State Police Investigators (Crimes Against Children's Division) and 330 DCFS Investigators. The total number of staff is obtained by identifying the person's position title that requested the approval of the investigation closures in the application.
The 29 screening and intake staff includes Arkansas State Police Hotline Workers who receive the child maltreatment calls accepting referrals for investigations. This number is obtained by identifying the hotline workers who completed the referrals for acceptance in the application during this time period.
California
Pamela Ward
Research Analyst II
Child Welfare Data Analysis Bureau
California Department of Social Services
744 P Street, Mail Station 12-84
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-653-6350
916-653-4880 fax
pward@dss.ca.gov
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
The State experienced a delay with submitting its 2003 data, due to technicalities in the electronic file submission and new reporting instructions. The 2003 NCANDS Child File and Agency File will be submitted with the 2004 NCANDS data in 2005.
Colorado
Carolyn Bidwell, MA
Child Welfare Data Analyst
Child Welfare Services
Colorado Department of Human Services
1575 Sherman Street
Denver, CO 80203-1714
303-866-4392
303-866-4191 Fax
Carolyn.Bidwell@state.co.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
General
The State implemented a Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS), Trails, and used this system as the source of NCANDS data.
Victims
The category of "other" maltreatment type includes court-ordered services for child protection, as well as "at-risk requests services,"which indicates at-risk youth. Unknown maltreatment type includes all other program targets with abuse or neglect report dates in the reporting period.
Connecticut
Jay Anderson
LINK Reports Director
Connecticut Department of Children
and Families
505 Hudson Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860-550-6349
860-566-7947 Fax
jay.anderson@po.state.ct.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable cause
General
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is a consolidated children's services agency with statutory responsibility for child protection, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and juvenile justice. It is a State-managed system comprised of three regions. Each region has a main office with two or more suboffices. In addition, DCF operates four facilities—a children's psychiatric hospital, an emergency and diagnostic residential program, a treatment facility for children with serious mental health issues, and a juvenile justice facility.
Reports
A centralized intake unit—the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline—operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CPS workers receive the reports of suspected abuse and neglect and forward them to a regional office for investigation. Hotline field staff respond to emergencies when the regional offices are closed. Referrals are not accepted for investigation if they do not meet the statutory definition of abuse or neglect. Information on screened-out referrals is from the DCF Hotline.
Regional staff investigate reports of abuse and neglect. Investigation protocols include contact with the family, with the children apart from their parents, and with all collateral systems to which the family and child are known. All cases of sexual abuse—as well as serious cases of abuse, neglect, and medical neglect—are referred to the police per departmental policy.
The Consent Decree Monitoring Division, the Human Resources Division, and the DCF Hotline provided information on the numbers of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment workers.
Fatalities
DCF collects data on all reported child fatalities regardless of whether or not the child or family received DCF services. The Special Review Unit conducts an investigation in cases where a child dies and either had an active CPS case or had a prior substantiated report. The Medical Examiner is responsible for determining the cause of death and the criminal nature of the death. DCF makes the determination concerning abuse and neglect.
Delaware
Carla Bloss
Management Analyst
Division of Family Services
Delaware Department of Services for Children,
Youth, and Their Families
1825 Faulkland Road
Wilmington, DE 19805
302-892-6401
302-633-2652 Fax
cbloss@state.de.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The number of children in screened-out referrals was estimated to be 2,712, using 1.4 children per referral as the multiplier. In 2003, the State reported on children in substantiated reports who were not identified as victims. As a result, the number of children with unsubstantiated dispositions in the submission has increased.
The State has a dual response system for investigation cases—urgent cases require contact within 2 days and routine cases require contact within 10 days. These response times are met between 90 and 100 percent of the time.
Of the full-time equivalents (FTEs), 5 were assigned to intake and 54 were assigned to investigation. The State also has two Institutional Abuse investigators and two Special Investigators who have statewide police powers.
Victims
The State uses 28 statutory types of primary and secondary allegations to record substantiated child abuse and neglect. The "other" category includes "dependency" and "adolescent problems." "Dependency" includes abandonment, nonrelative placement, parental mental incapacitation, or parental physical incapacitation. "Adolescent problems" includes abandonment, parent-child conflict, runaway, truant, and uncontrollable behavior. "Adolescent problems,"many of which do not clearly meet the usual definition of child abuse and neglect, have decreased in the past several years.
District of Columbia
Lois Branic
FACES Project
Child and Family Services Agency
District of Columbia Department
of Human Services
955 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20024
202-727-3033
202-651-3580 Fax
lbranic@cfsa-dc.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
The hotline is a centralized system that receives all referrals of abuse and neglect. Some abuse cases are jointly investigated by CPS and by the Metropolitan Police Department.
Victims
Many records are missing race and ethnicity data.
Services
The range of service codes mapped to family preservation includes "academic guidance," "case management," "family therapy," "housing subsidies," "family conferencing," "parent support groups," "psychological services," and "concrete services."
Florida
Susan K. Chase
Data Support Administrator
Child Welfare and Community Based Care
Florida Department of Children and Families
1317 Winewood Boulevard
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0700
850-922-2195
850-488-3748 Fax
susan_chase@dcf.state.fl.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Indicated—credible evidence (offering reasonable grounds for being believed)
Substantiated—preponderance (Superiority in weight, most of the evidence supports abuse, or quality and importance. At least one piece of evidence in support of abuse is exceptionally strong, such as DNA findings or a pediatrician's willingness to testify the injuries were from abuse.)
Reports
The criteria to accept a report are that a child younger than 18 years old has been harmed or is at risk of harm by an adult caregiver or household member and the child is either a resident or can be located in the State. Screened-out referrals reflect phone calls received about situations that the callers initially thought were child abuse or neglect, but the situations did not meet the statutory criteria.
The 2003 Child File includes data from both the legacy system, the Florida Abuse Hotline Information System (FAHIS), and the State's new SACWIS, HomeSafenet, Child Safety Assessment (HSn CSA). The beta test sites, Leon and Broward counties, used HSn the entire year. During March through June 2003, the rest of the State transitioned to the new system. Some data fields or values are available in HSn that were not in the legacy system. Therefore data may be skewed to missing or unknown codes due to records from the legacy system.
"Other" report source includes attorney, spiritual healer, GAL, guardian, human rights advocacy committee, and client relations' coordinator. Multiple sources per report may be entered into the State's system. If so, the first source entered is used for NCANDS, and the others are discarded. Foster care provider is not captured as a specific report source in the State.
Response time in the Agency File is based on reports only from the legacy system. This does not include reports received and entered in the new system during Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2003. The response commences when the CPS investigator or another person designated to respond attempts the initial face-to-face contact with the victim. The system calculates the number of minutes from the received date and time to the commencement date and time. The minutes for all cases are averaged and converted to hours. An initial onsite response is conducted immediately in situations in which any one of the following allegations is made: (1) a child's immediate safety or well-being is endangered; (2) the family may flee or the child will be unavailable within 24 hours; (3) institutional abuse or neglect is alleged; (4) an employee of the department has allegedly committed an act of child abuse or neglect directly related to the job duties of the employee, or when the allegations otherwise warrant an immediate response as specified in statute or policy; (5) a special condition referral for emergency services is received; or (6) the facts otherwise so warrant. All other initial responses must be conducted with an attempted onsite visit with the child victim within 24 hours.
The staff figures in the Agency File primarily represent allocated positions as of September 30, 2003. They do not include vacancies, overtime, or temporary staff. Included in those figures are 141 hotline counselors, 17 hotline supervisors, 1,162 State FTE child protective investigators, 204 State FTE investigator supervisors, 260 Sheriff 's office child protective investigators, and 46 Sheriff's office investigator supervisors. The Sheriff staff data are as of February 2004. Hotline staff also take calls related to adult protective services. Child calls represent about 80 percent of their workload.
Workers and supervisors were not matched between HSn and the legacy system. Therefore, the same worker or supervisor may appear in the file with different identifiers from each system.
Victims
The Child File includes children alleged to be victims and other children in the household. This is the first year the State has included children with no alleged maltreatment. Child records were matched between HSn and the legacy system and the same child identifier was assigned to all records for the same child.
The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) identification number field is populated with the number that would be created for the child regardless of whether that child has actually been removed or reported to AFCARS.
The State continues to translate "threatened harm," including domestic violence situations, as "other" maltreatment type. "Threatened harm' is defined as behavior that is not accidental and is likely to result in harm to the child. However, the State does not believe it is appropriate to include these with maltreatments where harm has already occurred due to abuse or neglect.
Perpetrators
By policy, perpetrator data are captured only for substantiated reports, which have a higher level of evidence than indicated reports. Perpetrators were not matched between HSn and the legacy system. Therefore, the same perpetrator may appear in the file with different identifiers from each system.
All licensed foster parents and nonfinalized adoptive parents are translated as nonrelative foster parents, although some may be related to the child. Approved relative caregivers are mapped to relative foster parents. The value for perpetrator relationship of friends or neighbors is not used in the State. To meet statutory criteria for child abuse or neglect, the adult must be a caregiver. An adult may be coded as "sitter" and mapped to the NCANDS category child daycare provider if an unrelated friend or neighbor is caring for the child. Most data captured for child and caregiver risk factors are available only if a services case in HSn was open at the time the report was received, or opened due to the report.
Fatalities
Fatality counts include any report disposed during the year, even those victims whose date of death may have been in a prior year. Only verified abuse or neglect deaths are counted. The finding was verified when a preponderance of the credible evidence resulted in a determination that death was the result of abuse or neglect. All suspected child maltreatment fatalities must be reported for investigation and are included in the Child File.
Services
Preventive services includes, but is not limited to, after-school enrichment and recreation, childcare and therapeutic care, community facilitation, community mapping and development, counseling and mentoring services, crisis and intervention services, delinquency prevention, developmental screening and evaluation, domestic violence services, family resource or visitation center and full-service schools, Healthy Families America, Healthy Start, home visiting and inhome parent education, parenting education and training, prenatal and perinatal services, Project Safety Net, respite care and crisis nursery, self-help groups and support groups, and teen parent and pregnancy program. Counts of preventive services do not include public awareness and education.
The families of the children included in child counts are also counted in the family counts. However, the family counts include additional families whose children were not included in the child counts. By statute, families may include biological, adoptive, and foster families; relative caregivers; guardians; and extended families. A single adult aged 18 years or older and living alone may be counted as one family. If a child does not have a family, the child is counted as one family.
Numbers reported under preventive services include families who received services (carryover and new) in the reporting period and children in the families who received services. If a parent received services, (e.g., parent education and training), all children in the family were identified as children served. Children could not be served without the family being served. For example, if a child attended an after school tutoring program, one child and one family were served. When one of the children in the family received a direct service but the parent did not, siblings were not counted as receiving a service. However, the family was counted. Children and families may have been counted more than once because of the receipt of multiple services or the use of multiple funding sources. A small amount of Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) funds was used and is counted in "other" funding sources.
Georgia
Shirley B. Vassy
Unit Chief, Evaluation and Reporting
Division of Family and Children Services
Georgia Department of Human Resources
2 Peachtree Street NW, Room 19.202
Atlanta, GA 30303-3142
404-657-5133
404-657-3325 Fax
sbvassy@dhr.state.ga.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The components of a CPS report are a child younger than 18 years, a known or unknown individual alleged to be a perpetrator, and a referral of conditions indicating child maltreatment. Screened-out referrals were those that did not contain the components of a CPS report. Situations in which no allegations of maltreatment were included in the referral and in which local or county protocols did not require a response, were screened out. Such situations could have included historical incidents, custody issues, poverty issues, educational neglect or truancy issues, allegations from an individual who had three previously unfounded referrals, situations involving an unborn child, or juvenile delinquency issues. For many of these, referrals were made to other resources, such as early intervention or prevention programs.
The social services personnel count includes Department of Human Resources staff and professional counselors. "Other" report sources includes nonmandated reporters and religious leaders or staff.
Victims
Race and Hispanic ethnicity are captured as a single field in which only one of the following codes can be chosen: Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian/Alaskan, or multiracial.
Fatalities
The number of child fatalities is based on the Georgia Child Abuse and Neglect Report, which is filled out at the completion of an investigation.
Services
The State maintains data on services through counts of cases, not children. Thus, estimates were provided.
Only data for removals that occurred during an investigation are included. Data on removals that occurred after the investigation decision, or within 90 days of the decision, were unavailable.
The number of children served by CASA volunteers was estimated by counting the number of out-of-court contacts. The Child Placement Project Study (a project of the Georgia Supreme Court) provided the number of victims who received a court-appointed representative.
Hawaii
Edward Nishimura
Research Supervisor
Management Services Office
Hawaii Department of Human Services
1390 Miller Street, Room 210
Honolulu, HI 96813
808-586-5109
808-586-4810 Fax
enishimura2@hawaii.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable, forseeable risk
Services
The Basic State Grant funds diversion, but the State definition of diversion services does not match the definition and scope of NCANDS preventive services category and definition.
Idaho
Jeri Bala
Program Systems Specialist
Division of Family and Community
Services/FOCUS
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
450 West State Street
Boise, ID 83720
208-334-5511
208-332-7351 Fax
balaj@idhw.state.id.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The 2003 Child File submission reflected changes in disposition categorization. As of March 1, 2002, the State changed from five to three dispositional findings—"substantiated," "unsubstantiated insufficient evidence," and "unsubstantiated unfounded." The category of indicated was discontinued. Both types of unsubstantiated dispositions were mapped to unsubstantiated.
Fatalities
As the State Mortality Review Team is two years in arrears, only Child File fatalities were reported.
Illinois
Jim Van Leer
Supervisor, Office of Information Services
Illinois Department of Children and
Family Services
1 N. Old State Capitol Plaza Station SACWIS
Springfield, IL 62701
217-747-7626
217-747-7750
Jvanleer@idcfs.state.il.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
All calls to the hotline that meet the criteria of an abuse or neglect allegation are referred for a CPS investigation.
"Other" report disposition refers to noninvolved children (i.e., children not suspected of being abused or neglected) who are recorded on a child abuse or neglect report. Because there are no allegations of abuse or neglect for these children, there are no specific dispositions.
The response time to investigation is based on the average between the receipt of a report at the hotline and the time an investigator makes the first contact. The response time is determined both by priority standard and by apparent risk to the alleged victim. All investigations, with the exception of cases involving only lockout of an adolescent or teenager, must be initiated within 24 hours according to State law. Lockout cases must be initiated within 48 hours.
Victims
Children who are at risk of physical injury are counted under physical abuse and children who are at risk of sexual injury are counted under sexual abuse per the instructions provided for this year's submission. Previously these children were reported under the NCANDS category "other" maltreatment type.
Indiana
Sandy Lock
Program Manager, SACWIS
Division of Family and Children
Indiana Family Social Services Administration
132 E. Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317-234-0691
317-234-0687 Fax
slock@fssa.state.in.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
Per State statute, there are three separate response times dependent on the type of allegation.
Fatalities
The Agency File fatality count is for the State fiscal year of July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2003.
Iowa
Joe Finnegan
Bureau Chief
Child Welfare Information Systems
Iowa Department of Human Services
Hoover State Office Building 5th Floor CWIS
1305 E. Walnut, Des Moines, IA 50319
515-281-5126
515-281-4597 Fax
jfinneg@dhs.state.ia.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Reports
Referrals were not accepted for assessment if they did not meet the assessment criteria or if they had been previously assessed. Screening, intake, and investigation or assessment was conducted by 195 staff members. This is the number of Social Worker III FTEs allocated in the State to the Field Operations Support Unit. Social Worker III is the classification of Child Protective Assessment Workers who are assigned investigations and follow them through to completion. The State does not collect the number of staff responsible for screening and intake.
State law stipulates that the Department of Human Services respond to reports within 24 hours.
Services
Postinvestigation services refers to services opened for indicated children within 90 days of the assessment. Foster care refers to children who entered foster care within 90 days after completion of the assessment.
State law requires that every child who appears in juvenile court have a GAL.
Kansas
Tanya Keys
Program Administrator
Kansas Department of Social and
Rehabilitative Services
Children and Family Policy
Docking State Office Building
915 SW Harrison 5th Floor South
Topeka, KS 66612-1570
785-296-3665
785-368-8159 Fax
txxk@srskansas.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Services
Service delivery reflected in the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant and Child Abuse and Neglect Community Support Grant may be through direct contact or community awareness campaigns.
With regard to response time, reports assigned for investigation of maltreatment are assigned for either a same day response or response within 72 hours of the report date and time. The assigned response time is dependent on the nature of the allegation, the child's age, or the perpetrator's access.
With regard to staff with CPS functions, services are State administered; however, there is not a statewide-required model of caseload. Some CPS workers have a caseload exclusive to CPS investigation and assessment, while others have an integrated caseload of families receiving family preservation, reunification, adoption, or investigative intervention services.
Kentucky
Pam Soto
Data Analyst
Department of Applications
Office of Technology Services
Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children
151 Elkhorn Court
Frankfort, KY 40601
502-573-3850 x206
502-573-2076 Fax
pam.soto@mail.state.ky.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Services
There is current discussion on how the State can more accurately report the number of clients receiving family preservation services. It is difficult to extract the information at this time.
Louisiana
Walter G. Fahr
Child Welfare Specialist V
Office of Community Services
Louisiana Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 3318
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
225-342-6832
225-342-9087 Fax
wfahr@dss.state.la.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
The data on response time were unavailable for 2003. The data that were available were based on a sample of 2,400 cases, which resulted in a finding that 81 percent of the time the agency interviewed the alleged victim within the required agency timeframe.
The number of staff responsible for screening, intake, and investigation or assessment excludes supervisors. There were 19 FTE workers on call who were exclusively assigned to intake or after hours.
Reports about children in foster care appear to have systematic missing data. As a result, an alternative method for determining the number of children maltreated in foster care has been used for 2003. This alternative method will be incorporated into the NCANDS Map and data extraction procedures for the 2004 submission.
Services
Preventive services funded by the State Child Abuse and Neglect Grant were provided to 183 children, 111 of whom were served by the Children's Hospital FACES-HIV Prevention Program, and 72 of whom were served by the Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana Children's Nurturing Program.
The Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant covered 31,511 children. These data exclude any one-time presentations or those programs that could be classified as primarily public awareness. About 28,505 children are not included in this count because the service is considered to be a one-time public appearance.
There were 463 unduplicated children who received services from the Child Protection Resource Centers' Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. The agency's Family Services Program served 7,257 children.
There were 1,528 families served by the Louisiana Office of Public Health, Nurse Home Visitation, and Healthy Family Services programs. There were 385 families served by the Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana Nurturing Program.
The Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant covered 1,510 families served by home visitation programs and 3,642 parents served by education and support programs. These data exclude any one-time presentations or those programs that could be classified as primarily public awareness. The count of 5,152 families excludes any families whose children also were served by the Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant.
There were 930 adults who received services aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect during the year funded by the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. This number is larger than the number of children who received services from the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program because services in maltreatment cases are usually directed at the parents.
There were 1,528 families who received Preventive Services from the State during FFY 2003 from the Office of Public Health. That includes 1,078 families in the Nurse Family Partnership (formerly Nurse Home Visiting) and 450 families in the Health Families program.
The average number of out-of-court contacts between the court-appointed representatives and the child victims they represent was 3. This number was not included in this report, but was based upon the data from the 12 active CASA programs throughout the State. The source of these data is the Executive Director of the Louisiana CASA Association.
Maine
Robert Pronovost
Supervisor
Child Protection Intake
Bureau of Child and Family Services
Maine Department of Human Services
State House, Station 11
Augusta, ME 04333
207-287-2978
207-287-5065 Fax
robert.n.pronovost@state.me.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Screened-out referrals fall into several categories. Some of the reports are appropriate for CPS, but are referred to a community agency for followup. The community agencies do not make a determination regarding substantiation and do not provide information to the SACWIS. Some screened-out referrals do not contain allegations of child abuse or neglect involving a responsible caretaker and thus, are deemed inappropriate for CPS investigation or assessment.
The number of children reported to be subject of a report but not referred for investigation was an undercount. Only the number of children who were referred to a community agency for followup was known.
The number of FTEs was taken from the Legislative Line List. Screening and intake staff includes the full-time staff of the Central Child Protection Intake Unit and a proportion of field staff in the eight district offices perform intake and screening functions.
Services
Nine private agencies under contract with the Bureau of Child and Family Services provide prevention services as community intervention programs in all 16 counties. Families referred to these agencies were at high risk of child abuse and neglect.
Maryland
Philip King
Program Analyst
Research Unit
Social Services Administration
Maryland Department of Human Resources
311 West Saratoga Street, Room 533
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-767-7353
410-333-6556 Fax
pking@dhr.state.md.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Maryland has a disposition category "ruled out" for situations of maltreatment that cannot be substantiated. Such reports are required to be expunged from the database within 120 days of their receipt. Therefore, the complete counts of unsubstantiated reports and children associated with these reports were not available.
The number of staff reflects FTE positions allotted for CPS. The State does not designate screening, investigations, or continuing service tasks for these positions. Local departments determine use, based on their needs.
Services
The number of recipients of preventive services was an estimate of the number of families who received such services as Continuing CPS, Intensive Family Services, or Families Now. Each family could have received any number of additional support services (e.g., addiction counseling, daycare, or crisis intervention). The data collection system does not track preventive services provided by community service agencies outside the Department of Human Resources system.
Massachusetts
Rosalind Walter
Business Analyst
Massachusetts Department of Social Services
24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 02210
617-748-2219
617-748-2000 Fax
Ros.Walter@state.ma.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
A referral may be screened out because there is no reasonable cause to believe that the child was abused or neglected; the alleged perpetrator was not a caretaker; the specific situation is outdated and has no bearing on current risk to children; the specific condition is known and is being addressed by an ongoing service case; the specific condition was investigated and a duplicate investigation would be unnecessarily intrusive to the family; the reported child is 18 years old or older; or the report is not credible due to a history of unreliability from the same individual.
The estimated number of screening, intake, and investigation workers was an estimated number of FTEs, which was derived by dividing the number of intakes and investigations completed during the calendar year by the monthly workload standards. The number includes both State staff and staff working for the Judge Baker Guidance Center. The Judge Baker Guidance Center handles CPS functions during evening and weekend hours when State offices are closed. Because assessments are case-management activities rather than screening, intake, and investigation activities, the number of workers completing assessments was not reported.
The estimated FTE numbers were taken from Reports of Child Abuse/Neglect—Twelve Month Summary and Investigations Completed—Twelve Month Summary. The State uses these numbers for its own management purposes, and they present a clearer picture than would a count of unique individuals who performed these functions. Many Department of Social Services (DSS) social workers perform screening, intake, and investigation functions in addition to ongoing casework.
Fatalities
The State maintains a database with child fatality information entered by the Case Investigation Unit.
As of 2001, a revised version of this database records information on all child fatalities regardless of whether or not the family was known to the Department of Social Services prior to the fatality.
Michigan
Mary DeRose
Bureau of Child and Family Services
Michigan Family Independence Agency
235 South Grand Avenue, Suite 510
Lansing, MI 48909
517-373-9171
517-241-7047 Fax
derosem2@michigan.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance of evidence
Reports
The reasons for screening out referrals include—already investigated, discounted after preliminary investigation, does not meet Child Protection Law definition of child abuse and neglect, no reasonable cause, the referring person is unreliable or not credible, or the report is withdrawn with cause.
Services
The State uses a five category system for case disposition. The five categories are determined by a combination of evidence, risk level, or safety assessment. Category One requires a court petition because a child is unsafe or a petition is mandated in the law for another reason. Category Two is preponderance of evidence that abuse or neglect occurred and the initial risk level is high or intensive. Category Three is a preponderance of evidence that abuse or neglect occurred and the initial risk level is low or moderate. Children's protective services must assist the family in voluntarily participating in community-based services. Category Four is not a preponderance of evidence that abuse or neglect occurred. Category Five is no evidence that abuse or neglect occurred.
Minnesota
Jean Swanson Broberg
Systems Analysis Unit Supervisor
Minnesota Department of Human Services
444 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155-3862
651-772-3765
651-772-3794 Fax
jean.swanson-broberg@state.mn.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance of evidence
Reports
At the county agency, social workers respond to telephone calls, walk-ins, faxes, and letters that allege child maltreatment. According to State regulations, counties are allowed to screen-out reports if the situation was previously assessed or investigated, if the allegations as reported or discovered during the screening process do not meet the legal definitions of child abuse or neglect, or if the child is not in the county.
The State implemented a two-track response to allegations of child maltreatment. This alternative response program enables CPS workers to provide a noninvestigative or alternative method of approaching families who were reported as possibly abusing or neglecting their children. This program was in a pilot phase in previous years, and is now available statewide. Thus, 2002 data show fewer substantiated reports and victims, as these terms are used for the investigative approach but are not appropriate for alternative responses. This reduction in numbers of substantiated reports and victims is expected to continue into future years as more county agencies adopt alternative response.
FFY 2003 is the first full year of data since the State's system required the entry of screened-out referrals.
Services
The number of children who received preventive services was based on children who received health-related services, home-based support services, homemaking services, housing services, social and recreational services, money management, individual counseling, or group counseling.
Children and families who received preventive services under the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant include the Family Support Network and Crisis Nursery Services. Preventive services funded by "other" sources includes those funded by substance abuse related grants. Counts of CPS workers includes specialized workers, and to some extent, less specialized social workers and case aides.
Mississippi
Robin E. Wilson, LSW
Program Manager
Division of Family and Children's Services
Mississippi Department of Human Services
750 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39205
601-359-4016
601-359-4978 Fax
rwilson@mdhs.state.ms.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
The number of staff responsible for the screening and intake of reports during the year was comprised of workers who were responsible for intake for the statewide 1-800 abuse line. The State SACWIS has been the source of data to NCANDS since calendar year 2002.
Victims
The Department of Family and Children Services classifies all reports as either "indicated" or "no evidence." "Indicated" numbers are mapped to substantiated.
Missouri
Meliny Staysa
Program Development Specialist
Child Abuse and Neglect Unit
Children's Division
Missouri Department of Social Services
615 Howerton, PO Box 88
Jefferson City MO 65103
573-751-9603
573-526-3971 Fax
Meliny.J.Staysa@dss.mo.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Probable cause
Reports
The number of screening and intake staff included the total number of staff in the child abuse and neglect centralized hotline registry.
Montana
Lou Walters
CAPS Liaison
Child and Family Services
Montana Department of Public Health
and Human Services
1400 Broadway
Helena, MT 59601
406-444-1674
406-444-5956 Fax
lwalters@state.mt.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The Child and Family Centralized Intake Unit (which became operational as of January 1, 2002) does all initial screening of referrals. There are 14 FTEs in the Centralized Intake Unit, which is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All reports are screened as to such appropriate response categories as requiring investigation, requiring services, requiring placement, or information only. The reports are electronically entered into the system by Centralized Intake staff.
If a report is received by the Centralized Intake Unit that requires an immediate assessment or investigation, the report is referred to the appropriate field office. For these types of calls, an assessment or investigation is required within 24 hours. All other CPS reports that require assessment or investigation are sent to the field within 8 hours of receipt of the call. Due to the State's rural nature, the majority of workers perform both intake and assessment functions. It is not possible to separate out the number of workers who perform only one or the other of these functions. This number includes social workers, case aides, permanency workers, and supervisors.
The social workers who receive all initial referrals through the Centralized Intake Unit are required to have the same knowledge, skills, and abilities as those social workers providing services in the field. The number of FTEs was calculated by gathering data for a 2-week period as to the number of calls to each field office and the time of day those referrals were received. The State also gathered data as to the number of reports that was entered into the system for that same timeframe. The State developed a formula based on the "weight" of factors to determine the number of individuals who would be required to handle the number of referrals.
Referrals are screened to determine the appropriate response and assigned to the field within 24 hours. Reports, which will require investigation or assessment by the field, are electronically entered within 8 hours of receipt. (Those reports requiring a more immediate response are immediately telephoned to a social worker who is designated to handle emergency referrals.) Suggested response time for those referrals is 24 hours.
Nebraska
Glenn G. Ogg
Business Systems Analyst
Office of Protection and Safety
Nebraska Health and Human Services System
301 Centennial Mall South, P.O. Box 95044
Lincoln, NE 68509-5044
402-471-6615
402-471-9597 Fax
glenn.ogg@hhss.state.ne.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The State's SACWIS enables referrals to be screened out without associating persons to the report. Thus, the number of referrals screened out exceeds the known number of children screened out.
Nevada
Marjorie L.Walker
Social Services Program Specialist
Division of Child and Family Services
Nevada Department of Human Resources
711 East Fifth Street, Capitol Complex
Carson City, NV 89701-5092
775-684-4422
775-684-4456 Fax
mlwalker@dcfs.state.nv.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
General
The State has a bifurcated child welfare services system in which counties with populations in excess of 100,000 are required to maintain their own CPS program. In 2001, the Nevada State Legislature passed State Assembly Bill 1 that will end bifurcation of the child welfare system by 2004. This will create one unified data system under the State's SACWIS—the Unified Information Technology System for Youth (U.N.I.T.Y.). The Washoe County Department of Social Services began using U.N.I.T.Y. in 2002 and Clark County Department of Family Services started using it in August of 2003.
Reports
Law enforcement reporters includes coroner and juvenile probation staff. "Other" report source includes clergy members. More than one source per report may be entered.
Victims
Physical abuse includes major and minor physical injury, and fatal maltreatment. Neglect or deprivation of necessities includes physical neglect, lack of supervision, and educational neglect. Psychological or emotional abuse includes emotional abuse or neglect and abandonment.
Services
The Nevada Department of Human Resources Grant Management Unit provided much of the data for preventive services. For title IV-B, the total provided by the program officer is duplicated. Only individuals served are tracked and they do not distinguish between children and families. The number of families under the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant reflects the number of reports. The SSBG family count reflects the number of adults served under the SSBG.
New Hampshire
Jane M. Whitney
Systems Analyst/Reporting Coordinator
Office of Information Systems
New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
129 Pleasant Street, State Office Park South
Concord, NH 03301
603-271-8384
603-271-0524 Fax
jmwhitney@dhhs.state.nh.us
Data Files Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Screening and intake workers include 11 intake workers and 1 Child Protection Service Coordinator. Investigation and assessment workers include 67 Assessment workers and 2 Special Investigations workers. This is a point-in-time snapshot taken in July 2003.
Fatalities
Data about child fatalities were obtained from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office and the Attorney General's Office.
Services
Family count estimates were derived by dividing the number of children by the national average number of children per family for families funded by the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant, Social Services Block Grant and Family Funding Source: Other.
There is a significant change from the previous year's entries for the Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) as there is a slight increase in capacity served, and the count was underreported last year. In previous years, the count included only Protective and Preventive Child Care recipients. Protective and Preventive Child Care is now funded by the Child Care Development Fund. This year's number only includes the number of children who received services from the Comprehensive Family Support contracts funded from SSBG.
A CASA GAL is required to visit the children to whom they are appointed at least once per month. The average number of contacts was nine, which indicates that not all children are being served by a CASA GAL for all 12 months of the year. Some cases do not start until part way through the year and other cases close during the course of it. CASA was appointed approximately 72 percent of abuse or neglect cases in FFY 2003.
New Jersey
Art Hull
Manager
Information Processing
Office of Information Services
Division of Youth and Family Services
New Jersey Department of Human Services
50 East State Street, 5th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0717
609-292-9175
609-292-8196 Fax
ahull@dhs.state.nj.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) requires all referrals to receive either an assessment or a CPS investigation, depending on the referral type.
The count of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment workers includes all casework staff designated as caseload carrying. These workers may be assigned to a District Office, Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit, or the Office of Child Abuse Control. Workers assigned to the Adoption Resource Centers are excluded.
Services
DYFS will not report data on preventive services until a more formal data retrieval system is in place.
New Mexico
Linnette Carlson
Administrative Deputy Director Protective Services
New Mexico Children, Youth,
and Families Department
1120 Paseo De Peralto
P.O. Box 5160
Santa Fe, NM 87502
505-827-8400
505-827-8480 Fax
ldcarlson@cyfd.state.nm.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
The count of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment staff represents the total number of FTEs, which includes social workers, case workers, and supervisors responsible for intake and investigations. The count of screening and intake workers represents the total number of FTEs, which includes case workers, social workers, and supervisors in the Statewide Central Intake (SCI) unit.
New York
Lillian S. Denton
Research Scientist
Bureau of Management Information
New York State Office of Children
& Family Services
52 Washington Street
15th Floor
Rensselaer, NY 12144-2735
518-474-6947
518-474-4208 Fax
lillian.denton@dfa.state.ny.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
There is no policy for screening out hotline calls.
North Carolina
JoAnn Lamm
Program Administrator
Family Support and Child Welfare
Services Section
Division of Social Services
North Carolina Department of Health and
Human Services
325 North Salisbury Street
Mail Service Center 2408
Raleigh, NC 27603
919-733-9467
919-733-6924 Fax
joann.lamm@ncmail.net
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Reasons why reports may not be referred for an investigation or assessment include:
- The alleged perpetrator is not a parent or caretaker;
- The victim is not a juvenile under the statutory definition; or
- The allegation does not fall within any of the statutory definitions of abuse, neglect, or dependency.
Legislation requires that for all allegations of abuse, neglect, or dependency with regard to any child in a family, all minors living in the home must be treated as alleged victims.
The staffing numbers were provided by an annual survey of the 100 social services departments in the State.
Victims
"Other" maltreatment type includes dependency and encouraging, directing, or approving delinquent acts involving moral turpitude committed by a juvenile.
North Dakota
Tom Pomonis
Children and Family Services
North Dakota Department of Human Services
600 East Boulevard
Bismarck, ND 58505
701-328-3701
701-328-2359 Fax
sopomt@state.nd.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Some credible evidence
General
The child neglect and abuse law was amended in 1995 to move from an incident-based investigation method to a service method in which assessments are made of child safety and future risk of harm. The current emphasis is on what services are available to ameliorate any future risk. This approach focuses on identifying and building on the family's capacities and strengths.
The text of the statute, in part, reads:
"An assessment is a fact-finding process designed to provide information that enables a determination to be made that services are required to provide for the protection and treatment of an abused or neglected child. The Department of Human Services (DHS) immediately shall initiate an assessment or cause an assessment of any report of child abuse or neglect including, when appropriate, the assessment of the home or residence of the child, any school or child care facility attended by the child, and the circumstances surrounding the report of abuse or neglect. If the report alleges a violation of a criminal statute involving sexual or physical abuse, DHS and an appropriate law enforcement agency shall coordinate the planning and execution of their investigation efforts to avoid a duplication of fact-finding efforts and multiple interviews.
Upon completion of the assessment of the initial report of child abuse or neglect, a decision must be made whether services are required to provide for the protection and treatment of an abused or neglected child. This determination is the responsibility of DHS. Upon a decision that services are required, DHS promptly shall make a written report of the decision to the juvenile court having jurisdiction in the matter. DHS promptly shall file a report of a decision that services are required under this section in the child abuse information index. The Division of Children and Family Services shall maintain a child abuse information index of all reports of decisions that services are required for child abuse, neglect, or death resulting from abuse or neglect." (Excerpted from North Dakota Legislative Code, Chapter 50-25.1)
Reports
The count of reports by report source does not include those contained in a separate Residential Child Abuse and Neglect database.
The State collects response time with respect to the initial investigation in ranges (e.g. 21-40 days). A midpoint for each range was used for the FFY 2003 calculation. There was also an "openended range" (>81 days, n=5). These five reports were not included in the calculation.
Victims
The State uses dispositions of "services required" or "no services required." The "services required" dispositions are mapped to the NCANDS category alternative response victim. The "no services required" dispositions are mapped to the NCANDS category alternative response nonvictim.
Ohio
Leslie B.McGee
Child Protective Services Supervisor
Bureau of Family Services
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
255 East Main Street, 3rd Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-466-9274
614-466-0164 Fax
mcgeel@odjfs.state.oh.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
No Information
Reports
Other relatives report source includes parents. Response time is the median rather than the mean.
Fatalities
The number of fatalities may be underreported because CPS agencies do not investigate all child deaths.
Services
Social Services Block Grant-funded services that are included under preventive service include foster care; independent living/transitional living; prevention and intervention; and protective services.
Victims who had been reunified within the past 5 years include child victims who were in foster care and whose parent(s), (e.g., mother, father, adoptive mother, or adoptive father) was (were) listed as the alleged perpetrator.
Oklahoma
Bill Hindman
Program Administrator
Child Family Service Division
Adoptions, Research & Technology Unit
Oklahoma Department of Human Services
P.O. Box 25352
Oklahoma City, OK 73125
405-522-1968
405-521-4373 Fax
Bill.Hindman@okdhs.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
Response time is based on the identified priority of the referral. The following are the response times based on priority:
- Priority I—11hrs. (Maximum time allowed is 24 hrs);
- Priority II—257 hrs. (Maximum time allowed is 15 days or 360 hrs); and
- Priority III—575 hrs. (Maximum time allowed is 30 days or 720 hrs).
Fatalities
Investigations of children in residential facilities are not documented in the State SACWIS (KIDS).
Oregon
Maria Duryea
Research Analyst
Department of Human Services/
Children, Adults and Families
500 Summer Street NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-945-6510
503-581-6198 Fax
Maria.Duryea@state.or.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
Data were reported based on the assessment date. The State classification "unable to determine" is mapped to the NCANDS "other" disposition.
Victims
The numbers of children with unsubstantiated and "other" dispositions were estimated. The classification "threat of harm" is mapped to the NCANDS category "other" maltreatment type.
Services
The same child could be removed more than once during the year and associated with different reports. Each removal is counted.
Pennsylvania
Susan Stockwell
Program Specialist
Office of Children, Youth and Families
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
P.O. Box 2675
Harrisburg, PA 17105
717-772-6902
717-772-6442 Fax
sstockwell@state.pa.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Clear and convincing/Beyond reasonable doubt
General
The State does not accept funds from the Basic State Grant.
Reports
The State has a narrow definition of child abuse, CPS investigations account for approximately 30 percent of the total reports investigated or assessed by the child welfare system. The number of screened-out referrals includes referrals of general protective service, information and referral, and emergency clearances for placements.
In the county-administered child welfare system, some counties have caseworkers that specialize in CPS investigations or assessments, while other counties have generic caseworkers that perform other child welfare functions in addition to investigations or assessments. Any caseworker that performed a direct child welfare function was reported.
Reports of "imminent risk of physical and sexual abuse" have been included in the physical abuse and sexual abuse categories.
Victims
State policy addresses neglect through a general protective service investigation rather than a CPS investigation. These neglect cases are not classified as child abuse.
The definition of abuse includes "(i.) any recent act or failure to act by a perpetrator that causes nonaccidental serious physical injury to a child less than 18 years old; (ii.) an act or failure to act by a perpetrator that causes nonaccidental serious mental injury to or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child less than 18 years old; (iii.) any act or failure to act or series of such acts or failure to act by a perpetrator which creates an imminent risk of serious physical injury to or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child less than 18 years old; (iv.) serious physical neglect by a perpetrator constituting prolonged or repeated lack of supervision or the failure to provide the essentials of life, including adequate medical care, which endangers a child's life or development or impairs the child's functioning." (Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law, title 23, PA C.S.A. Chapter 63.)
State law does not allow the collection of data on race.
Perpetrators
Adoptive parents are included in the biological parents category. All perpetrators of child abuse are caretakers. Perpetrators of "student abuse" are not caretakers.
Rhode Island
Rebecca Connors
RICHIST Program Manager
Rhode Island Department of Children,
Youth and Families
101 Friendship Street
Providence, RI 02903
401-528-3816
401-528-3922 Fax
rconnor@dcyf.state.ri.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Reports that contain the following four criteria are investigated.
- The report must involve a child younger than 18 years or younger than 21 years if living in Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) foster or institutional care or in DCYF custody, regardless of placement.
- Harm or substantial risk of harm to the child is present.
- A specific incident or pattern of incidents suggesting child abuse or neglect can be identified.
- A person responsible for the child's welfare or living in the same home has allegedly abused or neglected the child. State statute defines a person responsible for the child's welfare as the child's parent, guardian, foster parent (relative or nonrelative), an employee of a public or private residential home or facility, or any staff person providing out-of-home care (out of-home care includes include family daycare, group daycare, and center-based daycare).
A report that contains at least one, but not all four criteria, is considered an "early warning report," and is not investigated.
While RICHIST (SACWIS) can link more than report source per report, only one person can be identified as the person who actually makes the report. If more than one report is linked to an investigation, the person identified as the reporter in the first report is used in the Child File.
The number of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment workers was based upon a point-in-time count of FTEs for Child Protective Investigators and Child Protective Supervisors who accept and investigate reports meeting the criteria for investigation and screening. The number of screening and intake workers is based upon a point-in-time count of all FTEs for Social Caseworkers II and Social Caseworker Supervisors II working in the Intake Unit, who are responsible for screening and intake.
Victims
"Other" maltreatment type includes institutional allegations such as corporal punishment, other institutional abuse, and other institutional neglect.
Services
The CASA organization provided the average number of out-of-court contacts. This number represents the contacts made by CASA volunteers and does not include the contacts of GALs.
South Carolina
Joanne L. Schaekel
Program Liaison, Child Protective Services
Office of Family Preservation and
Child Welfare Services
South Carolina Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 1520
Columbia, SC 29202-1520
803-898-7318
803-898-7217 Fax
jschaekel@dss.state.sc.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
General
In June 2002, there were extensive revisions to the South Carolina Code of Laws, which impacted the reporting of data to NCANDS. Significant amendments included:
- The definition of threat of harm was removed and "significant risk of harm" language was substituted. This change clarifies the definition while preserving the concept of risk of harm in the statute. As a result, the State no longer reports a large amount of data in the "other" maltreatment type because the substantial risk of injury is more clearly linked to the specific maltreatment type.
- Information about screened-out referrals and unfounded investigations is preserved for at least 5 years on the automated system, and the information is available to staff when screening subsequent reports.
- The Department is permitted to maintain identifying information and other demographics on alleged perpetrators.
Reports
As a result of a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling and with guidance from the State Attorney General, the Department accepts referrals on a viable fetus when the mother is alleged to be using illegal substances. A viable fetus is defined as an unborn child 24 weeks or more into fetal development.
The Department distinguishes between "unfounded situations" by statute as follows: unfounded because abuse or neglect was ruled out, unfounded because there was insufficient information to substantiate, unfounded because the investigation could not be completed as a result of the family fleeing or other compelling reason, and unfounded because the information was not taken for investigation. For NCANDS purposes, referrals reflecting information not taken for investigation are reported as screened out, rather than as part of the "unfounded population." The automated system also collects data on investigations unfounded as a result of actions due to parental good conscience. Investigations that are unfounded because the family fled can be reopened for another 45-day investigation without requiring a new referral, when the family is located.
Fatalities
The number of child deaths due to child maltreatment represents investigations conducted jointly between the Department of Social Services and law enforcement or by law enforcement alone. South Carolina Code of Laws does not require the Department of Social Services to conduct an investigation unless there are surviving siblings. The category of children reported as being investigated by outside agencies alone is the result of a yearly reconciliation activity that takes place to ensure that children reported to NCANDS meet the statutory definitions for child maltreatment rather than the broader definition of the charge of Homicide by Child Abuse contained in the criminal code.
Services
The Department currently does not maintain any automated data on the frequency of contact between GALs and children. GALs are appointed primarily from certified individuals associated with the South Carolina Guardian ad Litem Program, which is not part of the Department of Social Services. At least one judicial district primarily appoints guardians who are also attorneys.
South Dakota
Mary Livermont
Program Specialist
Child Protection Services
South Dakota Department of Social Services
700 Governors Drive
Pierre, SD 57501
605-773-3227
605-773-6834 Fax
mary.livermont@state.sd.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
There were 234 CPS staff members in the field, including social workers, supervisors, field program specialists, and district supervisors. Any staff member could be responsible for screening, intake, and investigation or assessment tasks at any given time. There were 45 staff members responsible for screening and intake. Seven offices (Winner, Pierre, Yankton, Pine Ridge, Northern Hills, Mobridge and Huron) specialize in intake for their office and one other office. Each of these offices has its own supervisor conduct the screening. There are two offices (Rapid City and Sioux Falls) that have intake units and within the intake unit, there is an individual who is responsible for all of the screening. Two offices (Aberdeen and Watertown) each have one person assigned to intake, in one of these offices, the supervisor does all the screening and in the other office, the intake worker does all the screening. Two offices (Lake Andes and Mitchell) continue to have a rotating schedule within their office for intake with the supervisor conducting all the screening.
Services
There were 1,643 parents, not families, who received preventive services from the State's Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant. Data are not collected by families in this category.
Tennessee
Kimberly A. Moore
Case Manager III
Child Protective Services
Tennessee Department of Children's Services
CPS Centralized Intake
1200 Foster Avenue, Sills 4
Nashville, TN 37243
615-253-6569
615-253-6588 Fax
Kimberly.a.moore@state.tn.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Material evidence
Reports
The functions of staff who are responsible for the screening and intake of reports during the year are determined by county agencies. These functions, across the 95 counties, are performed on an as-needed basis by a variety of staff, including non-CPS staff.
Texas
Deborah Washington
System Analyst
Information Technology
Department of Family and Protective Services
8100 Cameron Road, Mail Code Y960
P.O. Box 149030
Austin, TX 78714-9030
512-834-3762
512-834-3780 Fax
deborah.washington@tdprs.state.tx.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The average response time for Priority 1 Investigations was 17.8 hours and 169.42 hours for Priority 2 Investigations.
There were 3,637 CPS FTE caseworkers assigned to handle screening, intake, and investigation or assessment and 225 CPS FTE caseworkers assigned to handle screening and intake as their primary responsibility. All cases on a caseworker's workload are captured each month. If 80 percent of the cases on a caseworker's workload are intakes, the caseworker is classified as an intake worker. If 80 percent of the cases on a caseworker's workload are investigations, the caseworker is classified as an investigation worker.
Services
There were of 58,523 children served by the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. PAC 300 & 301 STAR served 33,425 children and PAC 310 CYD served 25,098 children. The PAC 355 Second Chance Teen Parenting program served 592 children. Data from the State fiscal year beginning September 1, 2002 though August 31, 2003 were collected. The PAC 346 At-Risk Mentoring program served 1,986 children. State fiscal year data were collected for this program. The PAC 356 Communities in School program served 65,039 children for a total of 67,617 children served by other programs.
The Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program served 15,128 families through the PAC 321 program. Note: TX FY(9/1/02-8/31/03) data used, FFY data unavailable.
The PAC 331 Healthy Families program served 1,169 families and the PAC 332 Home Instruction Program for Pre-School Youngsters (HIPPY) program served 306 families including 331 children for a total of 1,475 families. Note: Healthy Families Program ceased to exist after 9/2003. Note: TX FY(9/1/02-8/31/03) data used, FFY data unavailable.
Utah
Navina Forsythe
Data & Research Unit Supervisor
Division of Child and Family Services
Utah Department of Human Services
120 North 200 West, Suite 225
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
801-538-4045
801-538-3993 Fax
nforsythe@utah.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
The NCANDS disposition closed with no finding includes cases when the family could not be located. Initial investigation is defined as face-to-face contact with the alleged victim. Consequently, the average time may be longer than other States with less stringent standards. Outlying data points were excluded from the computation.
The number of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment workers is an estimate. Many workers perform multiple functions, (e.g., conduct investigations as well as other types of work). This number includes all workers who conduct some investigations.
A call may be screened out when one of the following apply—the minimum required information for accepting a referral is not available (e.g., location of victim); the information is determined to not be credible or reliable; the specific incidence or allegation has been previously investigated; or the specific allegation is already under investigation.
Vermont
Phillip M. Zunder, Ph.D.
Information Technology Manager
Vermont Department of Social and
Rehabilitation Services
103 South Main Street
Waterbury, VT 05671-2401
802-241-2106
802-241-2980 Fax
pzunder@srs.state.vt.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
General
The Vermont Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services is responsible for investigating allegations of child abuse or neglect by caretakers and sexual abuse by any person. The department investigates "risk of physical harm" and "risk of sexual abuse." Beginning with 2002, these are mapped to NCANDS terms physical abuse and sexual abuse respectively. In previous years, both were mapped to neglect.
Services
The number of recipients of "other" preventive services is a duplicated count of recipients of at risk childcare, intensive family-based services, and parent education programs.
Virginia
Mary M. Carpenter
Child Protective Services Specialist
Division of Family Services
Virginia Department of Social Services
7 North 8th Street, 4th floor
Richmond, VA 23219
804-726-7503
804-726-7895 Fax
molly.carpenter@virginia.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
An alternative response system was implemented statewide beginning May 2002. Reports placed in the "investigation" track receive a disposition of "founded" (substantiated) or "unfounded" (unsubstantiated) for each maltreatment allegation. Reports placed in the "family assessment" track receive a family assessment; no determination is made as to whether or not maltreatment actually occurred.
Referrals are screened out if they do not meet the State definition of a valid report, if they have insufficient information to locate the family, or if they report an incident that was reported by a previous caller. Criteria for a referral to be screened in include the alleged victim is younger than 18 years old, the alleged abuser or neglector meet the definition of "caretaker," the allegation meets the definition of abuse or neglect, and the alleged abuse or neglect occurred in the State or the child was a State resident.
State law required that records of unsubstantiated maltreatment allegations and records of alternative response referrals prior to July 1, 2003, be purged from the database one year after the report date. As a result, some unsubstantiated and alternative response cases were not included in the NCANDS file.
The total FTEs for all CPS staff were estimated by statewide random moment sampling of program activity for the year. The numbers do not include workers who provide postinvestigation services.
Victims and Perpetrators
The Department of Social Services continues to improve its use of identifiers. Every time a new referral is entered in the State's SACWIS, the system assigns each person in the referral a new identification number. Workers are instructed to search the database for identical children and perpetrators and to employ a merge function to combine the records for each individual, thus, giving them a single identification number. This is not done consistently, which impacts the counts of unique victims and perpetrators and measures of maltreatment recurrence. The Department of Social Services has revised its SACWIS to correct some problems with the merge function and continues to address the issue through training.
While risk factor data can be recorded for any child or perpetrator, these data only are documented routinely for foster children.
Services
The number of children with out-of-court contacts was derived from aggregate reports from some local CASA programs. The Department of Criminal Justice Services received data for State fiscal year 2003 from 12 of the 26 CASA programs. Not all localities are served by a CASA program.
Workers enter data into the SACWIS to indicate that a case was opened for postinvestigation services. However, data entry for most specific services other than foster care and adoption is optional. A new services module will capture postinvestigation services beginning July 2004.
Washington
Cynthia Ellingson
Program Manager
Children's Administration
Washington Department of
Social and Health Services
P.O. Box 45710
14th and Jefferson Street, OB-2
Olympia, WA 98504-5710
360-902-7929
360-902-7903 Fax
elcy300@dshs.wa.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
A referral was screened out for the following reasons: the child could not be located, the alleged subject was not a caretaker, or the allegation of child abuse and neglect did not meet the State's legal definition. Of the referrals that were screened in, some were assessed as needing a "high standard of investigation" (face-to-face contact with the victim) and some were assessed as "families in need of services."
Each social worker's responsibilities are identified at the office level and coded as "CPS," "intake," or "after hours."During 2002, the State implemented a Central Intake Unit, which was dissolved mid-2003.
For the response time with respect to the initial investigation, 85 percent of the victims in the screened-in referrals were seen within 10 days. This is a State agency program standard.
Services
Families received preventive services from the following sources: Community Networks; CPS Child Care Services; Family Reconciliation Services; Family Preservation; and Intensive Family Preservation Services. The Families Funding Source: Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant value is estimated from community programs.
The Department opens a case for services at the time a CPS referral is screened-in. The automated information system does not distinguish between services provided for the purpose of the investigation and services provided during the investigation, which are for the purpose of supporting the family or reducing the risk present in the family. By policy, investigations are to be completed within 90 days of the referral. To most accurately distinguish between those children who received services, in addition to CPS investigation or assessment services, and those who did not, CPS cases open longer than 90 days were counted as receiving postinvestigation services, and cases open for 90 or fewer days were counted as not having received postinvestigation services.
West Virginia
Tom Strawderman
Program Manager II, Resource & Development
Bureau for Children and Families
Department of Health and Human Resources
350 Capitol Street
Room 730
Charleston, WV 25301-3711
Phone: 304-558-7980
Fax: 304-558-8800
tstrawderman@wvdhhr.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
General
The Families and Children Tracking System (FACTS) has been in operation for 6 years. Revisions are continuously being made to improve programming and ease of use by workers.
Reports
The number of staff responsible for CPS functions is based on payroll data. This estimate of FTEs is determined by multiplying the percentage of time workers spend on CPS cases by the total number of CPS workers and social workers in the State.Workers are crosstrained and assist each other in performing the various CPS functions. Therefore, the estimate of screening and intake workers cannot be made.
Fatalities
In addition to the 5 fatalities reported in the Child File, 25 fatalities were reported by the West Virginia Child Fatality Review Team. Of the 25 fatalities, 6 were by abuse (homicide) and 19 related to neglect. Of the 6 homicides, 4 of the children died from gunshot wounds inflicted by a father. One was an abusive closed head injury inflicted by a caregiver and the other was a child shot with a firearm by another juvenile in a setting where there was no adult supervision. This case is ruled homicide and thus categorized as abuse. Of the neglect related deaths, 2 were related to medical neglect on the part of parents. Four deaths were related to deaths in motor vehicles ranging from a parent drunk while driving and young children being unrestrained and dying in motor vehicle crashes. Of the neglect related deaths 8 were related to drug or alcohol use on the part of the parent or a history of parents giving drugs to their children and their death by a subsequent overdose. In those cases, a clearly documented history of parents contributing to the drug use/habit of the child existed. Of the neglect-related deaths four were related to a lack of supervision resulting in drowning. One (1) neglect related death was related to a young child gaining access to a firearm and accidentally shooting himself. Of the 25 deaths, 14 had a history with CPS, 2 of which were from another state. Five were open in the State at the time of death.
Services
State contracts usually span across the State fiscal year, July 0 though June 30. Therefore, the requested data were retrieved from contracts dated from July 2002 through June 2003.
Wisconsin
John Tuohy
Director
Office of Policy, Evaluation, and Planning
Wisconsin Department of Health
and Family Services
1 West Wilson Street
Madison, WI 53708
608-267-3832
608-267-6836 Fax
tuohyjo@dhfs.state.wi.us
Data Sources
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
General
Child abuse and neglect data were submitted by local agencies for manual entry into a database. The State is implementing a SACWIS (WiSACWIS) to collect more complete and timely child abuse and neglect data. The reporting features were implemented in Milwaukee County during 2001 and will be implemented statewide. For 2003, approximately 40 percent of the data is from the SACWIS and 60 percent from the manual process. Child File reporting will begin once the reporting features are in use statewide.
Reports
The State is child-based, that is, each report in the SDC has only one child. Abuse or neglect reports that are investigated by local agencies can involve multiple children.
There can be more than one source per report. The category "other" disposition refers to those investigations where critical sources of information that are necessary for establishing a preponderance of evidence cannot be found or accessed.
Due to an inconsistency between old and new data systems, "other" report source data is blended in with anonymous. This problem will be corrected when the State reports Child File data solely from the WiSACWIS.
Victims
In addition to dispositions of substantiated abuse and neglect, the data include dispositions where evidence justifies a belief that abuse or neglect is likely to occur. "Other" disposition includes children who are subjects of reports with a disposition indicating the likelihood of abuse or neglect.
Fatalities
The count of fatalities includes only those children who were subjects of reports of abuse or neglect in which the allegation was substantiated.
Wyoming
Rick Robb
Social Services Program Manager
Protective Services Division
Wyoming Department of Family Services
2300 Capitol Ave.
Cheyenne, WY 82002
307-777-7150
307-777-3693 Fax
rrobb@state.wy.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Report
Each active worker—with at least one open CPS incident at the time this report was generated—was counted as a screening, intake, and investigation or assessment worker. As a general practice, there is no difference between screening and intake workers and investigation and assessment workers.
Services
The figures provided for both children and adults who received preventive services funding are all estimated. Approximately 30,000 of the 32,797 families who received Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant services received funding from a mass media campaign by Prevent Child Abuse Wyoming.
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