Highlights of Findings
Child Maltreatment 1995: Reports From the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) discusses the characteristics of child abuse and neglect investigated by child protective services (CPS) agencies in the 50 States and the District of Columbia.
VictimsIn 1995, more than 1 million children were identified as victims of abuse or neglect. Nationwide, the rate of victimization of children was approximately 15 per 1,000 children younger than 18 years of age. About 80 percent of the perpetrators of child maltreatment were the parents of the victims. Another 10 percent of the perpetrators were other relatives of the victims. About 2 percent were persons in other caretaking roles (e.g., foster parents, facility staff, and child care providers).
Twice as many victims suffered from neglect (52 percent) as were victims of the next most frequent type of maltreatment, physical abuse (25 percent). About 13 percent of the victims were sexually abused. More than half of all victims were 7 years of age or younger, with about 26 percent younger than 4 years old. About 21 percent of the victims were teenagers. Case-level data suggest that the majority of victims of neglect and medical neglect were younger than 8 years old, while the majority of victims of other forms of maltreatment were 8 years old or older.
One of the most severe consequences of child maltreatment is child death. Forty-five States reported that 996 children were known by the CPS agency to have died as a result of abuse or neglect. Case-level data suggest that the majority of these deaths were children 3 years of age or younger.
ReportsChild protective services agencies investigated nearly 2 million reports alleging maltreatment of an estimated 3 million children. The national rate of children who were reported was 43 per 1,000 children. Reports were received from professionals (53 percent), persons within the family of the victims, including parents and other relatives (19 percent), and friends and neighbors (9 percent). Anonymous, unknown, and other sources accounted for 19 percent.
DispositionsNationwide, about 36 percent of investigations for maltreatment resulted in a disposition of either substantiated or indicated maltreatment, and more than half (58 percent) resulted in a finding that child maltreatment was not substantiated.
The 1995 case-level data suggest that substantiated or indicated reports were more likely to be from professional sources than from nonprofessional sources. For example, 66 percent of investigations that were substantiated and 54 percent of investigations that were indicated were from four professional sources: education, social services, law enforcement, and medicine. However, the majority of reports from all report sources, both professional and nonprofessional, with the exception of the legal and medical professionals, were not substantiated.
