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BACKGROUND OF THE REPORT

This report presents annual national data about child abuse and neglect known to child protective services (CPS) agencies in the United States in calendar year 1999. The data have been collected and analyzed through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which is sponsored by the Children's Bureau; Administration on Children, Youth and Families; Administration for Children and Families; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This section discusses the history and development of the NCANDS and describes the purpose and content of the system's two components, the Summary Data Component (SDC) and the Detailed Case Data Component (DCDC). It then introduces the reader to the structure of the report, describing the information presented in each chapter and detailing the changes in this year's report.

THE NCANDS

The NCANDS annually gathers and analyzes State data on abused and neglected children. States report such data as the number of children abused and neglected, the types of abuse, the number of fatalities due to maltreatment, and the types of services provided to address maltreatment and prevent future abuse.

Public Law 100-294, which was passed on April 25, 1988, amended the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) [42 U.S.C 5101 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 5116 et seq.] and directed the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a national data collection and analysis program on child abuse and neglect. The Department responded by establishing the NCANDS as a voluntary national reporting system.

During the initial design of the NCANDS, the Department convened a State Advisory Group composed of representatives of State CPS agencies. The group and representatives from other States helped identify data items and definitions that would best represent a national profile of child maltreatment. As the NCANDS has evolved, the State Advisory Group has continued to play an important role. The group continues to help guide improvements to the NCANDS. The members of the 1999-2000 State Advisory Group follow:

Lee Stolmack, California
Donna J. Pope, Ph.D., Colorado
Carla Bloss, Delaware
Susan K. Chase, Florida
Rebecca Jarvis, Georgia
Robert Byers, Kansas
Walter G. Fahr, Louisiana
Jenifer Agosti, Massachusetts
Lee Hunsberger, Michigan
Otto D. Lynn, LSW, Nevada
Larry G. Brown, New York
Kevin Kelley, North Carolina
Leslie McGee, Ohio
Bill D. Hindman, Oklahoma
Leslie Schockner, Oregon
Bruce Benedik, Pennsylvania
Kenneth S. Bjork II, LMSW, Texas
Robert E. Lewis, DSW, Utah
Phillip M. Zunder, Ph.D., Vermont

In 1992, the Department produced its first NCANDS report based on data from 1990. From that report has evolved the Child Maltreatment report series.

Besides being published in this report series, NCANDS data are used as a resource for other national efforts addressing children's safety. The annual Child Welfare Outcomes report, also published by the Children's Bureau, contains data on State progress toward improving the safety, permanency, and well-being of our Nation's children. In that report, the NCANDS provides context information about each State and measures State progress in reducing the recurrence of child abuse and neglect. In addition, NCANDS data are incorporated into State Child and Family Services Reviews. The purpose of these reviews is to ensure substantial conformity with the State plan requirements in titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act and to help States improve child welfare services and outcomes for families and children who receive services.

THE SDC AND THE DCDC

The Summary Data Component (SDC) and the Detailed Case Data Component (DCDC), the two components of the NCANDS, collect State child abuse and neglect data at different levels of detail.

The SDC

The SDC collects aggregate data through an annual survey. The survey asks each State to report the number of children and families receiving preventive services, the number of reports and investigations of child abuse and neglect, the number of children who were the subjects of reports of abuse or neglect, the number of child victims of maltreatment, the number of child fatalities, the size of the State's CPS workforce, and other statistics¹. Moreover, the SDC survey requests data specifically required by 1996 amendments to the CAPTA legislation (see appendix A, CAPTA Required Data Items, and appendix B, Summary of State Responses).

During the validation phase, submitted SDC data were reviewed for consistency and clarity. The NCANDS Technical Team worked with each State to clarify and interpret data and to write comments on how the data were derived. Comments for 1999 are provided as appendix C².

All States submitted data for the 1999 calendar year, but their ability to respond to the items required by the 1996 CAPTA amendments varied. For example, although 49 of the 51 States provided information on the number of children reported as victims of abuse and neglect, only 6 States reported data on the average number of out-of-court contacts between court-appointed representatives and child victims.

The DCDC

The DCDC collects case-level data on children who are subjects of reports alleging maltreatment. The case-level data include the age and sex of all children in a report, types of maltreatment, risk factors, services provided, and characteristics of perpetrators.

A State's DCDC data submission consists of automated case records generated by its child welfare information system. State participation in the DCDC begins with the State matching the data elements and coding structures of its State child welfare information system to the DCDC. The documentation of this matching process is called a "map." A State submits its DCDC data after the map has been verified and a sample set of data has been generated and checked. The data are verified for accuracy and completeness using an automated data-verification program.

The DCDC collects case-level data, which allow the analysis of multiple variables and, therefore, permit a more detailed investigation of child maltreatment than is possible with aggregate data. The SDC survey collects only aggregate data.

For 1999, 23 States submitted DCDC data that passed the validation process (table i-1). The child population of the 23 reporting States is 62.3 percent of the U.S. child population³. The victims reported in the DCDC represent 62.9 percent of the national estimate of all victims.

STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

The report follows the following structure:

• Chapter 1 presents data on referrals and reports of child maltreatment;
• Chapter 2 discusses the characteristics of child maltreatment victims;
• Chapter 3 provides information about the perpetrators of abuse;
• Chapter 4 presents data on fatalities that occurred as a result of maltreatment;
• Chapter 5 discusses services, both to prevent maltreatment and to assist victims once maltreatment has occurred; and,
• Chapter 6 reports on current research activities that use NCANDS data.

In each chapter, unless otherwise noted, the data presented are from the SDC survey. Analyses using data from the DCDC specify the DCDC as their source. Following the chapters are appendices providing information and data supporting and providing context to the report's analyses:

• Appendix A lists the data items required under CAPTA.
• Appendix B presents a chart indicating data submitted by each State; and
• Appendix C lists all State comments clarifying the 1999 data submissions.

Readers of previous reports in the Child Maltreatment series will notice improvements to this year's report. First, data from the DCDC have been used more extensively than in previous reports. This trend should continue in future reports as more States report data to the DCDC. Also, in some cases when all States have not reported a data item, a national estimate has been calculated based on the reported data. Child Maltreatment 1999 also includes more trends that show data for 1999 in the context of data from previous years.

A survey has been included as an appendix to this report to gauge readers' responses to the format and to help guide the content and presentation of future reports in the Child Maltreatment series. Please take a few minutes to complete and return the survey per the instructions in the survey's final paragraph.

Footnotes

¹A copy of the 1999 survey form is available from the Children's Bureau's Web site at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb.
²In this introduction and throughout this report, the District of Columbia is counted as a State.
³Here and throughout the report, the term "child population" refers to all people in the U.S. population younger than 18 years old.