Highlights of Findings
Reports
In 1996, child protective services agencies investigated more than 2 million reports alleging maltreatment of more than 3 million children.
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The national rate of children who were reported was 44 per 1,000 children in the population.
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Reports were received from professionals (52 percent); persons in the families of the victims, including parents, other relatives, and the victims themselves (18 percent); and friends and neighbors (9 percent). Twenty percent of reports were from other or anonymous persons.
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It is estimated that almost two-thirds of substantiated or indicated reports were from professional sources-education, social services, law enforcement, and medicine.
Victims
Child protective services agencies determined that almost 1 million children were identified as victims of substantiated or indicated abuse or neglect in 1996, an approximate 18 percent increase since 1990.
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The national rate of victimization was 15 victims per 1,000 children in the population.
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More than half (52 percent) of all victims suffered neglect, while almost a quarter (24 percent) suffered physical abuse. About 12 percent of the victims were sexually abused. Children suffering medical neglect and emotional maltreatment accounted for 3 percent and 6 percent of all victims, respectively. A greater proportion of neglect and medical neglect victims were children younger than 8 years old, while a greater proportion of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse victims were children age 8 or older.
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More than half (53 percent) of all victims were white. African American children represented the second-largest group of victims (27 percent). Hispanic children were about 11 percent of victims, American Indian/Alaska Native children about 2 percent of victims, and Asian/Pacific Islander children about 1 percent of victims. The percentages of African American and American Indian/Alaska Native victims were disproportionately high, almost twice their representation in the national child population.
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An estimated 1,077 child maltreatment fatalities occurred in the 50 States and the District of Columbia in 1996. Based on data from a subset of States, children younger than age 4 accounted for 76 percent of fatalities.
Perpetrators
Seventy-seven percent of perpetrators of child maltreatment were parents, and an additional
11 percent were other relatives of the victim.
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It is estimated that over 80 percent of all perpetrators were under age 40 and that almost two-thirds were females.
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An estimated three-quarters of neglect and medical neglect cases were associated with female perpetrators, while almost three-quarters of sexual abuse cases were associated with male perpetrators.
