Chapter 2
Reports
Child Maltreatment 2001
Each week, child protective services (CPS) agencies in the United States collectively receive more than 50,000 referrals alleging that children have been abused or neglected. Not all referrals receive further attention by the CPS agency. Some are not considered to be within the responsibility of the CPS agency and may be referred to other agencies. Other referrals do not have sufficient data to enable followup to be conducted. For these and other reasons, including the workload of the agency, many referrals are screened out from further attention by CPS. Almost two-thirds of referrals are screened in (also called reports) by CPS agencies because they meet the States' policies for needing an investigation or assessment.
Once a referral has been screened in, the agency determines whether or not the child has been maltreated or is at risk of maltreatment. The CPS agency staff must then decide whether to take further action to protect the child.
This chapter presents statistics on the screening of referrals and the investigation of reports. Of the referrals that were screened in, data are provided on the sources of reports, the CPS response time, and dispositions or findings of investigations. This information is also discussed in terms of data trends for the past 5 years.1
Screening of Referrals
In 2001, CPS agencies screened out 32.7 percent (an estimated 870,000) of referrals, (compared to 38.3% or 1,070,000 in 2000), many of which concerned more than one child. The agencies screened in 67.3 percent (an estimated 1,789,000) of referrals (compared to 61.7% or 1,726,000 in 2000). The total 2.7 million referrals concerned approximately five million children. The rate of screened-out referrals per 1,000 children in the population was 11.9 (compared to 14.8 in 2000), while the rate of screened-in referrals was 24.7 (compared to 23.9 in 2000).2
Return to Table of Contents
Report Sources
Professionals submitted more than half (56.5%) of the screened-in referrals. "Professional" implies that the report source came into contact with the alleged victim as part of his or her occupation.3 In most States, various types of professionals are legally required to report suspected maltreatment. Professional sources include educators, legal and law enforcement personnel, social services personnel, medical personnel, mental health personnel, child day care providers, and substitute care providers.4 The three most common sources of reports were education personnel (16.2%), legal or law enforcement personnel (15.6%), and social services personnel (15.1%).
Nonprofessional report sources submitted the remaining 43.4 percent of screened-in reports. These sources include parents, other relatives, friends and neighbors, alleged victims, alleged perpetrators, anonymous callers, and other sources not categorized. "Anonymous or Unknown" and "Other" report sources accounted for the largest portions of reports in the nonprofessional category at 13.7 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively (figure 2-1). The number of reports that were made by nonprofessional sources has decreased 3 percentage points from 1997 to 2001, with a concomitant increase in professional sources.5
Return to Table of Contents
Response Time From Report to Investigation
Most States have established time standards for initiating the investigation of reports and monitor whether the investigations commence within the priority time standards required. High-priority reports usually require an immediate response from CPS (within 3 to 24 hours). Reports not considered high priority are classified as needing a response from within a few days to within a few weeks. Because the CPS agencies receive reports of varying degrees of urgency, average response times can be expected to reflect the types of reports that are received, as well as the ability of workers to meet the priority standards. Based on data from 20 States, the average response time from report to investigation was 50 hours.6 In 2000, the average response time was 54 hours, based on data from 20 States.
Return to Table of Contents
Investigated Reports
CPS agencies assign a finding or disposition to a report after the circumstances are investigated or assessed and a determination is made as to the likelihood that maltreatment occurred or that the child was at risk of maltreatment.7
Each State establishes specific dispositions and terminology. States undertake to crosswalk or "map" State-specific terms to standard terminology used by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). Recognizing that there have been many changes in CPS practice, two new disposition categories that refer to alternative responses, "Alternative Response Victim," and "Alternative Response Nonvictim," were incorporated into NCANDS beginning with 2000 data. The major disposition categories used by NCANDS are as follows:
- "Substantiated" is a conclusion that the allegation of maltreatment or risk of maltreatment was supported by or founded on State law or State policy. The most serious level of finding used by a State is mapped to "Substantiated."
- "Indicated" or "Reason to Suspect" is a determination that maltreatment could not be substantiated under State law or policy, but there was reason to suspect that the child might have been maltreated or was at risk of maltreatment. This is applicable only to States that distinguish between substantiated and indicated dispositions.8
- "Alternative Response Victim" is a conclusion that the child was identified as a victim when a response other than investigation was provided.
- "Alternative Response Nonvictim" is a conclusion that the child was not victim of maltreatment when a response other than investigation was provided.
- "Unsubstantiated" is a determination that no maltreatment occurred or that there was insufficient evidence under State law or policy to conclude that the child was maltreated or was at risk of being maltreated.
More than a quarter of investigations or assessments resulted in a disposition of "Substantiated" (27.5%), "Indicated" (4.4%), or "Alternative Response-Victim" (0.4%), meaning that at least one child involved in any such investigation was determined to be a victim (figure 2-2). More than half (59.2%) of investigations led to a finding that the alleged child maltreatment was "Unsubstantiated".
For each of the past 5 years, the percentage of substantiated reports in any year has not exceeded 29.0 percent, and the percentage of unsubstantiated reports has been less than 60.0 percent.9
Return to Table of Contents
CPS Workforce and Workload
In most large jurisdictions and among many local agencies, different workers conduct the functions of screening and investigation. In rural and smaller agencies, a worker may conduct both functions, and indeed, may provide other child welfare or social services functions. The numbers in this report are estimates that are based on different approaches used by the States. Thus, the average workload across the Nation is difficult to determine from aggregate data.
Data from those States that reported significant numbers of specialized workers for intake, screening, investigation, and assessment were used to estimate the number of cases that were handled by CPS workers. The number of "Screening, Intake, Investigation, and Assessment Workers" from the 22 States that were able to report workforce data by "Screening and Intake Workers" and "Investigation/Assessment Workers," and provided data for "Screened-In Investigations" and "Children Subjects of an Investigation," equaled 12,935. Of those, 11,545 workers (89.3 %) were responsible for investigations and assessments. Based on those 22 States, the average number of investigations per worker was 69 per year, and the number of children who were subjects of an investigation was estimated to be 126 per worker.10 It is important to note that these calculations do not consider other activities of these workers and that some workers conducted more than one function.
A more accurate calculation of workload requires the systematic estimation of work for a specific timeframe. One recent workload study in California estimated that an average monthly caseload for workers exclusively providing CPS Emergency Response investigations and no other services was 16.15 investigations per worker per month or approximately 194 per year. Each investigation could include more than one child.11
Return to Table of Contents
Supplementary Tables
The following pages contain the tables referenced in Chapter 2. Unless otherwise explained, a blank indicates that the State did not submit usable data, and a number in bold indicates either a total or an estimate.
Chapter Two: Figures and Tables
Notes
1 All trend
analyses, with the exception of victimization rate, are presented
for 5 years (1997-2001). This is the second year in which
statistics were computed based on case-level data submissions, as
well as aggregate statistics. Improved accuracy of the data may
have impacted the trend statistics. Back
2 Supporting data are
provided in supplementary table 2-1, which is located at the end of
this chapter. Back
3 Terms that are
capitalized and in quotation marks are used by NCANDS, other terms
in quotation marks refer to State-specific terminology. Back
4 See supplementary
table 2-2. Back
5 See supplementary
table 2-3. Back
6 See supplementary
table 2-4. Back
7 See
supplementary table 2-5. Back
8 The number of
States that use the "Indicated" disposition has remained relatively
low, about 10 States since 1997. Back
9 See supplementary
table 2-6. Back
10 See supplementary
table 2-7. Back
11 American
Humane Association, 2000, SB 2030 Child Welfare Services
Workload Study Report, (Sacramento: California Department of
Social Services). Back
Return to Table of Contents
