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| << Summary | Chapter 2 >> |
Child abuse and neglect is one of the Nation's most serious concerns. The Children's Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families in the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, addresses this important issue in many ways. One example is to collect data on the children who are served by child protective services (CPS) agencies.
This Child Maltreatment 2007 report, now in its 18th edition, presents national data about child abuse and neglect known to CPS agencies in the United States during Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2007. The data were collected and analyzed through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) supported by the Children's Bureau. This chapter discusses the background of NCANDS and describes the annual data collection process.
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was amended in 1988 to direct the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a national data collection and analysis program that would make available State child abuse and neglect reporting information.1 HHS responded by establishing NCANDS as a voluntary national reporting system.
During 1992, HHS produced its first NCANDS report based on data from 1990. The Child Maltreatment report series has evolved from that initial report. During the early years, States provided aggregated data on key indicators of CPS. Starting with the 1993 data year, States voluntarily began to submit case-level data. For a number of years, States provided both data sets, but starting with data year 2000, the case-level data set became the primary source of data for the annual report. The aggregated data file, the Summary Data Component (SDC), is phasing out as States are able to provide case-level data.2 For FFY 2007, 48 States reported case-level data (Child Files) and 2 States reported aggregate data files (SDC).3
During 1996, CAPTA was amended to require all States that receive funds from the Basic State Grant program to work with the Secretary of HHS to provide specific data, to the extent practicable, about children who had been maltreated. These data elements were incorporated into NCANDS; the required CAPTA data items are discussed in appendix A. An NCANDS glossary of terms is provided as appendix B.
A State Advisory Group comprising State CPS program administrators and information systems managers assists with the identification and resolution of issues related to CPS data. This group suggests strategies for improving the quality of data submitted by the States and reviews proposed modifications to NCANDS. The Children's Bureau convenes the State Advisory Group annually. The most recent list of State Advisory Group members is provided below:
| Alaska, Michael Matthews California, Debbie Williams Florida, Keith Perlman Illinois, Jim Van Leer Iowa, Jeff Regula Louisiana, Walter Fahr Maryland, David Ayer Massachusetts, Ros Walters New Mexico, Linnette Carlson |
New York, Lillian Denton North Carolina, Hank Bowers North Dakota, Tara Muhlhauser Oklahoma, Bill Hindman Oregon, Maria Duryea Puerto Rico, Evelyza Crespo Rivera South Carolina, Judy Seals Wisconsin, Michelle Rawlings |
In addition to the annual meeting of the State Advisory Group, a technical assistance meeting for all States is held each year. This technical assistance meeting serves as a forum for providing guidance to the States for their annual data submissions and discussing data utilization and training needs.
Data collected by NCANDS are a critical source of information for many publications, reports, and activities of the Federal Government and other groups. An annual report on child welfare outcomes based on State submissions to NCANDS includes context and outcome data on safety.4
NCANDS data have been incorporated into the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR), which ensures conformity with State plan requirements in titles IV, B, and E of the Social Security Act. NCANDS data are the basis for two of the CFSR national data indicators:
The NCANDS data are used to help assess the performance of several Children's Bureau programs through the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) process. The PART is a systematic method of assessing the performance of program activities across the Federal Government that "uses a questionnaire to help assess the management and performance of programs. It is used to evaluate a program's purpose, design, planning, management, results, and accountability to determine its overall effectiveness."5 The measures listed below are used to assess one or more Children's Bureau programs including the CAPTA Basic State Grant and the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) program.
States that submit case-level data, construct a child-specific record for each report of alleged child abuse or neglect that received a disposition as a result of an investigation or an assessment during the reporting period; this data file is called the Child File. The reporting period for Child Maltreatment 2007 was October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007.
Upon receipt of data from each State, a technical validation review was conducted to assess the internal consistency of the data and to identify probable causes for missing data. In many instances, the review concluded that corrections were necessary and the State was requested to resubmit its data. Once a State's case-level data were finalized, aggregate counts were computed and shared with the State. In addition, the aggregate-level data provided in the Agency File were subjected to various logic and consistency checks. (See appendix C, Data Submissions and Data Elements, for additional information regarding data submissions.)
The population of the 48 States that submitted Child Files accounts for approximately 70 million children or 94 percent of the Nation's child population younger than 18 years (table C–1).6
Trend data in this report are based on the most recent population estimates and data resubmissions from the States, including resubmissions for prior years. To increase the comparability of the trend data, the population data for Puerto Rico were added into all years and estimates were used for Puerto Rico data prior to 2005, which was its first reporting year. Wherever possible, trend data are presented in 5-year increments, with 2003 as the benchmark year. Data for FFY 2007 were accepted through August 2008.7
This report contains the additional chapters listed below. Throughout the report, tables with supporting data are located at the end of each chapter:
Commentary about State data and contact information for State representatives is presented in appendix D. The commentary section of this report provides valuable insights into policies and conditions that might affect State data. Additional information about specific State policies or practices can be obtained from the State contact listed in the commentary section. A reader feedback form is included to solicit advice for future reports (appendix E).
Footnotes
1 42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 5116 et seq., Public Law 100–294 passed April 25, 1988. back
2 In this report, "States" includes the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. back
3 Two States—Maryland and Michigan—were not able to submit data to NCANDS prior to the publication of the
Child Maltreatment 2007 report. back
4 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Child Welfare Outcomes 2003: Annual Report (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007). back
5 Office of Management and Budget, retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/part.html. back
6 U.S. Census Bureau file PRC-EST2007-AGESEX-RES: Estimates of the Resident Population by Single-Year of Age
and Sex for Puerto Rico http://www.census.gov/popest/puerto_rico/files/PRC-EST2007-AGESEX-RES.csv [released
5/1/2008]), and U.S. Census Bureau file SC-EST2007-Alldata6: State Characteristics Population Estimates with 6
Race Groups (http://www.census.gov/popest/states/asrh/files/SC-EST2007-Alldata6.csv [released 5/1/2008]). Here and
throughout this report, the term "child population" refers to all people in the U.S. population younger than 18 years. back
7 New Hampshire resubmitted its FFY 2006 Agency File. Trend data reported in Child Maltreatment 2007 reflect that resubmission. back
| << Summary | Chapter 2 >> |
