MASSACHUSETTS
Tony Felix
Data Analyst
Office of Management, Planning and
Analysis
Massachusetts Department of Social
Services
24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 02210
727-3171, ext. 432
(617) 261-7438 Fax
Sources of Data and Data Collection Methods
The source of data is the Department of Social Services Management Information System, ASSIST (Area-based Social Services Information System Technology). Department of Social Services staff enter client information via terminals at service offices across the State. The terminals are linked to the State's mainframe computer system in Boston.
Level of Evidence Used
To Substantiate a Report
Some credible evidence.
Comments on Specific Items
Item 1: The number is the screened-in (accepted for investigation) reports based on a duplicated family count.
Item 2:The unduplicated number of children subject of a screened-in report is 44,129.
Item 3: Sources of report data are collected on a child basis. The total is for duplicated child counts. "Other" (L) includes other mandated reporters.
Item 5:The unduplicated count for children with completed investigations is 43,826, and the duplicated count is 51,285. The unduplicated number of families is 25,239, and the duplicated count is 29,998. The unduplicated count does not equal the number of children with substantiated investigations (item 6A) plus the number of children for whom the allegation was not substantiated (item 6C), since some individuals investigated appear in both the substantiated and unsubstantiated data sets.
Item 6:Massachusetts reports on both duplicated and unduplicated counts for item 6. The counts are as follows: substantiated investigations: 23,328 unduplicated children and 25,375 duplicated children; not substantiated investigations: 23,617 unduplicated children and 25,910 duplicated children.
Item 7:The data within this item refer to duplicated counts. The category "medical neglect" (C) is included in "neglect" (B). The category "other" (F) includes congenital drug addiction and failure to thrive. The children subjected to more than one maltreatment are counted in each type.
Item 8: The age of the victim is based upon age at the date of the substantiation.
Item 11:This is a duplicated count and includes children for whom maltreatment was substantiated.
Item 13: This is a duplicated count of victims and families and includes only substantiated cases.
Item 14:The number of fatalities represents only those children from families known to the Department of Social Services either as open cases or cases closed within less than 6 months. The source for these data is the respondent's PC data base with child fatality information collected by the Case Investigation Unit (CIU).
Item 15:Massachusetts provided perpetrator data on all alleged perpetrator relationships. Since only substantiated relationships are presented, Massachusetts' data were not included in this item.
