Highlights of Child Maltreatment 2002
SUMMARY
During calendar year 2002, an estimated 1,800,000 referrals alleging child abuse or neglect were accepted by State and local child protective services (CPS) agencies for investigation or assessment. The referrals included more than 3 million children, and of those, approximately 896,000 children were determined by CPS agencies to be victims of child abuse or neglect.
OVERVIEW
What is the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)?
NCANDS is a federally-sponsored effort that collects and analyzes annual data on child abuse and neglect submitted voluntarily by the States and the District of Columbia. The first report from NCANDS was based on data for 1990; the report on data for 2002 is the 13th annual report.
The 1988 amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a national data collection and analysis program. The Children’s Bureau in the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, collects and analyzes the data from the States.
How are the data used?
Data from the States are used for the annual report, Child Maltreatment, which is published each spring. In addition, data from the States are used systematically to measure the impact and effectiveness of CPS through performance outcome measures.
What data are collected?
NCANDS collects case-level data on all children who received an investigation or assessment by a CPS agency. States that are unable to provide case-level data submit aggregated counts of key indicators.
Case-level data include information about:
- The characteristics of the report of abuse or neglect that are made to CPS agencies
- The characteristics of the alleged child abuse or neglect victims
- The disposition (or finding)
- The alleged maltreatments
- The risk factors of the child and the caregivers
- The services that are provided
- The characteristics of the perpetrators.
Where are the data available?
Aggregated counts by State are available for 1990–2002 from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University. In addition, restricted usage files of case-level data for certain States are available for researchers. The Child Maltreatment reports are available on the Internet at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm#can.
VICTIMS
An estimated 896,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect during 2002. The rate of victimization per 1,000 children in the national population dropped from 13.4 children in 1990 to 12.3 children in 2002.
What types of maltreatment were found?
More than 60 percent of child victims were neglected by their parents or other caregivers. Approximately 20 percent were physically abused, 10 percent were sexually abused, and 7 percent were emotionally maltreated. In addition, approximately 20 percent were victims of “other” types of maltreatment, based on specific State laws and policies. A child could be a victim of more than one type of maltreatment.
What were the characteristics of victims?
Children ages birth to 3 years had the highest rates of victimization at 16.0 per 1,000 children of this age in the
population. Girls were slightly more likely than boys to be victims.
American Indian/Alaska Native and African American children had the highest rates of victimization when
compared to their national population. While the rate of White victims of child abuse or neglect was 10.7 per
1,000 White children in the population, the rates were 21.7 per 1,000 children for American Indian/Alaskan
Natives, and 20.2 per 1,000 children for African Americans.
REPORTS
Approximately two-thirds of the referrals received during 2002 were accepted for investigation or assessment. One-third of referrals were not accepted.
Who made the reports?
More than 50 percent of all reports that alleged child abuse or neglect were made by such professionals as educators, law enforcement and legal personnel, social services personnel, medical personnel, mental health personnel, child daycare providers, and foster care providers. Educators made 16.1 percent of all reports, while law enforcement made 15.7 percent, and social services personnel made 12.6 percent. The remaining 43.6 percent of the reports were made by such persons as friends, neighbors, and relatives.
What were the results of the investigations and assessments?
After conducting interviews with family members, the alleged child victim, and sometimes other people familiar with the family, the CPS agency makes a determination concerning whether the child is a victim of abuse or neglect, or is at risk for abuse or neglect. This determination often is called a disposition.
Approximately 30 percent of the reports included at least one child who was found to be a victim of abuse or neglect. Sixty-one percent of the reports were found to be unsubstantiated (including intentionally false); the remaining reports were closed for other reasons.
FATALITIES
Child fatalities are the most tragic consequence of maltreatment. In 2002, an estimated 1,400 children died due to child abuse or neglect.
What were the characteristics of these children?
Seventy-five percent of the children who died due to child abuse or neglect were younger than 4 years old, 12 percent were 4 to 7 years old, 6 percent were 8 to 11 years old, and 6 percent were 12 to 17 years old.
The overall rate of child fatalities was 2 deaths per 100,000 children. One-third of child fatalities were attributed to neglect. Physical abuse and sexual abuse also were major contributors to fatalities. Infant boys (younger than 1 year old) had the highest rate of fatalities, nearly 19 deaths per 100,000 boys of the same age in the national population. Infant girls had a rate of 12 deaths per 100,000 girls of the same age.
PERPETRATORS
More than 80 percent of perpetrators were parents. Other relatives accounted for 7 percent of the perpetrators, and unmarried partners of parents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining perpetrators included persons with other relationships to the child (camp counselor, school employee, etc.) or persons whose relationship to the child victim was not known by the CPS agency.
What were the characteristics of perpetrators?
Female perpetrators, who were mostly the mothers of the children, were typically younger than male perpetrators, who were mostly the fathers of the children. Women also comprised a larger percentage of all perpetrators than men (58 percent of perpetrators were women compared to 42 percent who were men).
Approximately 29 percent of all perpetrators of sexual abuse were relatives other than parents, and approximately 25 percent were not related to the child and did not have caretaking responsibilities for the child. Less than 3 percent of all parent perpetrators were associated with sexual abuse.
SERVICES
CPS agencies provide services to some families and their children during and as a result of an investigation or assessment.
Who received services?Approximately 59 percent of victims and 31 percent of non-victims received services as a result of an investigation or assessment. Additional analyses indicated that children who were prior victims of maltreatment were approximately 80 percent more likely to receive services than first-time victims. Also, children with multiple types of maltreatment were approximately 80 percent more likely to receive services than children with only one type of recorded maltreatment.
What services were provided?
Services included both in-home and foster care services. Almost 25 percent of child victims were removed from their homes and placed in foster care. About 4 percent of non-victims also were removed from their homes. For the non-victims, the removal usually involved a short-term placement that occurred during the course of investigating the maltreatment report.
