State Data Pages: Massachusetts

State Data Pages

Massachusetts Context Data

A. Key Context Statistics

GENERAL POPULATION IN 1997
Total children under 18 yrs	1,451,374
• Alaska Native/American Indian	0%
• Asian/Pacific Islander	4%
• Black	7%
• Hispanic	10%
• White	78%
Child population in poverty	20%
Child population living in metropolitan areas	93%
CHILD WELFARE
Child maltreatment victims during 1997	29,815
Children in foster care on 9/30/98	*
Children adopted during FY 1998	1,100

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* See State Commentary

B. Child Maltreatment Data
(NCANDS SDC, 1997)

OVERVIEW	Count	Rate
Children subject of an investigated report alleging child maltreatment	58,742	40 per 1,000
Child maltreatment victims (1)	29,815	21 per 1,000
Child fatalities	1	0.1 per 100,000

AGE	Under	1-5 Yrs	6-10 Yrs	11-15 Yrs	16+ Yrs	Unknown	Total	Number
Child victims	9%	32%	31%	23%	5%	0%	100%	29,815

RACE/ETHNICITY	Alaska Native/A.I.	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic	White	Other	Unable to Determine/Missing	Total (2)	Number
Child victims	0%	2%	17%	18%	54%	0%	27%	118%	29,815

MALTREATMENT TYPE

Emotional

Medical Neglect

Neglect

Physical Abuse

Sexual Abuse

Other

Unknown

Total (3)

Number

Child victims

82%

24%

113%

29,815

(1) Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once.
(2) Percentages may total more than 100 percent because Hispanics may be counted both by Hispanic ethnicity and by race.
(3) Percentages may total more than 100 percent because children could have been victims of more than one type of maltreatment.

C. Children in Foster Care
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998)

OVERVIEW	In Care on 10/1/97	Entered Care (FY 1998)	Exited Care (FY 1998)	In Care on 9/30/98	Total Served
Children	-	-	-	-	-
Median length of stay (months)	-	N/A	-	-	N/A

AGE	Under 1 Yr	1-5 Yrs	6-10 Yrs	11-15 Yrs	16-18 Yrs	19 + Yrs	Missing	Total	Number
In care on 10/1/97	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Entered care (FY 1998)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Exited care (FY 1998)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
In care on 9/30/98	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

RACE/ETHNICITY	Alaska Native/A.I.	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic	White	Unable to Determine /Missing	Total	Number
In care on 10/1 /97	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Entered care (FY 1998)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Exited care (FY 1998)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
In care on 9/30/98	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

D. Children Waiting to be Adopted on 9/30/1998 (4)
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998)

OVERVIEW
Children waiting to be adopted	-
• Children whose parents' rights have been terminated (TPR)	-

AGE	Under 1 Yr	1-5 Yrs	6-10 Yrs	11-15 Yrs	16-17 Yrs	Missing	Total	Number
Waiting children	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

RACE/ETHNICITY	Alaska Native/A.I.	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic	White	Unable to Determine /Missing	Total	Number
Waiting children	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

(4) Waiting children are children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. Children 16 years and older with TPR, but with a goal of emancipation have been excluded from the waiting children and TPR populations.

E. Children Adopted
(AFCARS Annual Adoption Database, FY 1998)

AGE	Under 1 Yr	1-5 Yrs	6-10 Yrs	11-15 Yrs	16+ Yrs	Missing	Total	Number
Children	1%	47%	40%	13%	1%	0%	102%	1,100

RACE/ETHNICITY	Alaska Native/A.I.	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic	White	Unable to Determine /Unknown	Total	Number
Children	0%	1%	23%	23%	46%	7%	100%	1,100

Massachusetts Outcomes Data

1. Reduce Recurrence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect
(NCANDS, DCDC 1997)

1.1 Recurrence of Maltreatment
Children without a recurrence within 12 months	83%
Children with one or more recurrences within 12 months	17%
Total	100%
Number	25,812

2. Reduce the Incidence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect in Foster Care

2.1 Maltreatment in Foster Care
Children maltreated while in foster care	To be reported in 2001
Children not maltreated while in foster care	To be reported in 2001
Total	To be reported in 2001
Number	To be reported in 2001

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998)

3.1 Exits from Foster Care
Adoption	-
Guardianship	-
Reunification	-
Other	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

3.2 Exits of Disabled Children
Adoption	-
Guardianship	-
Reunification	-
Other	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

3.3 Exits of Children Age 12 or Older at Entry
Adoption	-
Guardianship	-
Reunification	-
Other	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

3.4 Exits by Race/Ethnicity	Alaska Native/ A.I.	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic	White	Unable to Determine	Missing
Adoption	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Guardianship	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Reunification	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Missing	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Number	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

3.5 Exits to Emancipation
Children age 12 or younger at entry	-
Children older than 12 at entry	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

4. Reduce Time to Reunification Without Increasing Re-entry
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998)

4.1 Time to Reunification
Less than 12 months	-
At least 12 months, but less than 24 months	-
At least 24 months, but less than 36 months	-
At least 36 months, but less than 48 months	-
48 or more months	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

4.2 Children Who Entered Foster Care in FY 1998
Children entering care for the first time	-
Children re-entering care within 12 months of a prior episode	-
Children re-entering care more than 12 months after a prior episode	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

5. Reduce Time in Foster Care to Adoption
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998)

5.1 Time to Adoption
Less than 12 months	-
At least 12 months, but less than 24 months	-
At least 24 months, but less than 36 months	-
At least 36 months, but less than 48 months	-
48 or more months	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

5.2 Time to Adoption for Children Age 3 or Older at Entry
Less than 12 months	-
At least 12 months, but less than 24 months	-
At least 24 months, but less than 36 months	-
At least 36 months, but less than 48 months	-
48 or more months	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

6. Increase Placement Stability
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998)

6.1 Number of Placements by Time in Care	Less than 12 mos.	At least 12 mos., but < 24	At least 24 mos., but < 36	At least 36 mos., but < 48	48 or more mos.	Missing
Children with 2 or fewer placements	-	-	-	-	-	-
Children with 3 or more placements	-	-	-	-	-	-
Missing	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	-	-	-	-	-	-
Number	-	-	-	-	-	-

7. Reduce Placements of Young Children in Group Homes or Institutions
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998)

7.1 Most Recent Placement Settings of Children Who Entered Care During FY 1998 and Were Age 12 or Younger at the Time of This Placement
Group homes	-
Institutions	-
Other settings	-
Missing	-
Total	-
Number	-

Massachusetts State Comments

Jeffery A. Locke, Interim Commissioner
Massachusetts Department of Social Services, Executive Office of Health and Human Services
(617) 748-2000

The Massachusetts Department of Social Services fully supports the effort to develop and monitor a set of child welfare outcomes and measures. While major differences exist across States in terms of laws, policies, definitions, resources, and demographics, the effort to explore commonalties in terms of the outcomes of child welfare work is critical to improving the lives of children and families through the U.S. To that end, Massachusetts provided input to the Children's Bureau during the outcome development process based on our internal work with similar data and tracking of outcomes over the past 10 years.

Unfortunately, we have identified major discrepancies within our AFCARS data for FY 1998 that dramatically misrepresent Massachusetts' performance on most of the child welfare outcomes. These discrepancies resulted from our effort to convert old data into our new child welfare computer system in 1998. For example, while the AFCARS data show that Massachusetts had 13,677 children in care as of September 30, 1998, the true number was only 11,498 children, a difference of nearly 20 percent. Including these extra children in the data set also distorts many of the outcomes in the report.

In response to these problems, we have decided, in consultation with the Children's Bureau, that Massachusetts' data should not be included in the first Annual Report to Congress. As a result, many of Massachusetts' outcomes will have no data showing in the report. We are currently involved in an extensive process of reviewing and correcting our AFCARS data, and we look forward to having an accurate data set for the next year's Report to Congress on the Child Welfare Outcomes.

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