Child Maltreatment Victims Have Decreased for the Past Five Years to a New Low

Today, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its annual child maltreatment report. The report reveals, that of the nationally estimated 3,096,101 children who were the subject of a child protective services response in fiscal year (FY) 2022, 558,899 children were determined to be victims of maltreatment, the lowest number of children identified as victims of maltreatment in the last five years. Conversely, the national estimated number and rate of fatalities have increased during the past five years. Most recently, an estimated 1,990 children died from abuse and neglect in FY 2022 compared to an estimated 1,930 children whose deaths were determined as due to maltreatment during FY 2021. The Child Maltreatment report includes updated state data and population data from the U.S. Census Bureau for the most recent 5 years.

“We appreciate the daily work performed by states, tribes and local agencies to prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect in their communities,” said ACF Acting Assistant Secretary Jeff Hild. “The child maltreatment report shows we are making strides in preventing child abuse and neglect. However, the numbers of child maltreatment deaths are higher than they were five years ago, and we need to further understand the underlying circumstances of these fatalities so we can continue to enhance and expand our prevention efforts to keep children safe and well. ACF will continue to partner with state, local and tribal child welfare agencies to reduce all forms of child maltreatment.”

ACF’s Children’s Bureau provides leadership and promotes accountability, including support for programs across government to communicate and exchange information concerning child maltreatment activities, including the Federal Interagency Working Group (FEDIAWG) on Child Abuse and Neglect. Additionally, the Children’s Bureau supports efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect, including preventing fatalities and near fatalities through multidisciplinary support for families.

The Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) program (authorized and funded by Title II of CAPTA), strongly encourages the use of CBCAP funds for evidence-based and evidence-informed practices. Grantees are also required to demonstrate strong collaborations related to prevention, some of which include memberships on child fatality review teams. Some states also lead efforts to prevent infant and child deaths, such as safe sleep initiatives, abusive head trauma prevention and others.

ACF’s Children’s Bureau also currently provides a wide range of technical assistance to states in reporting data to NCANDS, including technical assistance related to child fatalities. Additionally, when jurisdictions submit their data to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, they have the opportunity to provide additional context on the data that will be published in the report. For example, in Appendix D (state commentary) jurisdictions can submit comments about changes to legislation, policy, and agency practice that may contribute to an increase or decrease in the number of victims and child fatalities. The report also examines the reported fatality data by race or ethnicity to determine if there are any patterns or disproportionality within the data that will assist agencies to target specific programs or policies to aid child maltreatment victims and their families.

“The data presented in the Child Maltreatment 2022 report provides information regarding the circumstances of children and youth who come into contact with the public child welfare system,” said Administration on Children, Youth, and Families Commissioner Rebecca Jones Gaston. “These data can be widely used and distributed across child and family serving systems to effectively reduce risk factors and strengthen protective factors for children and families. This means focusing on getting families what they need, when they need it, long before the involvement of child welfare. This could include increasing access to concrete and economic supports and increasing access to community-based behavioral health services and supports designed to support whole families.”

Analyzing the most common maltreatment type by age and sex shows that nationally the victims of neglect are split relatively evenly between the sexes; however, analyzing by single year age shows some differences. For example, from birth until age 10, boys are more represented among neglect victims; beginning at age 11, girls are more often determined to be neglect victims. Similarly, from birth to age 11, boys are more represented among physical abuse victims; beginning at age 12, girls are more often determined to be victims of physical abuse.

 “I encourage agencies to pay particular attention to data in this report that is disaggregated by race, to ask more questions and to challenge themselves to find innovative solutions to long-standing, complex societal and human services problems,” said Children Bureau Associate Commissioner Aysha E. Schomburg. “Reducing long-standing racial and other inequities will require agencies to work in collaborative, intentional, bold and courageous partnerships across the human service continuum with federal and local government agencies, individuals with lived experience, and advocacy and community-based organizations.”

The Child Maltreatment 2022 report presents fiscal year 2022 data, which is the latest data available, and can be found at: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/report/child-maltreatment-2022

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