Latest Child Maltreatment Data Released

Statistics Show Challenges During Child Abuse Prevention Month

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) today released “Child Maltreatment 2006”, an annual report that marks the start of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

According to the publication, an estimated 905,000 children in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico were determined to be victims of abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2006.

Data collected though the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, a voluntary data collection system, shows that Child Protective Service agencies received an estimated 3.3 million referrals of possible maltreatment.  Of the 905,000 substantiated reports, the majority (64.1 percent) involved neglect.  For 2006, an estimated 1,530 children died, with more than three-quarters of the victims under four years of age.  More than 40 percent of the deaths were attributable to neglect.

“These unacceptably high statistics remind us of our obligation to support families and protect children,” said Daniel Schneider, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. “The Bush administration is committed to working with our partners at all levels of government to pave the way for healthy lives for all children.”

President Bush’s 2009 budget reflects this commitment by requesting $10 million for competitive grants to states for evidence-based home visitation programs to prevent child abuse and neglect.  Research has shown that these programs can be effective in improving outcomes for families, and the funds requested for this grant program would continue efforts currently underway. 

ACF also will continue to devote resources to strengthening the role of fathers in a healthy family system.  The recent ACF/HHS funded  study, “More About the Dads,” found that children in foster care who were involved with their non-resident fathers spent less time in foster care, were more likely to be reunited with their biological families, and were less likely to be abused once reunified. Following the results of this study, ACF established the Quality Improvement Center on Nonresident Fathers and the Child Welfare System to identify research priorities and foster knowledge development.

The full report, “Child Maltreatment 2006” is available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm06/index.htm [needs to be verified]

Additional resources on prevention are available at the Child Welfare Information Gateway at: http://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/

More information on the Quality Improvement Center’s activities and products is available at: http://www.fatherhoodqic.org.

Note: All ACF new releases, fact sheets and other materials are available at www.acf.hhs.gov/opa/index.html.

###