Chapter 7
Additional Research Related to Child Maltreatment
Child Maltreatment 2003
This chapter describes additional research activities related to child maltreatment including those using data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), other Federal and State agencies, and private organizations have sponsored these studies. Ideas and suggestions for future research are also included.
Reports on Key Indicators, Outcomes, and National Statistics
Child Welfare Outcomes
The Children's Bureau is preparing Child Welfare Outcomes 2002: Annual Report, the fifth annual report in the series. The report contains information, by State, on key child maltreatment indicators, including the two measures of reducing recurrence of child abuse and neglect, and reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect in foster care. As part of the Child and Family Services Reviews, the following national standards have been set.
- Of the children who were victims of substantiated or indicated child abuse or neglect during the first 6 months of the period under review, 6.1 percent or fewer children had another substantiated or indicated report within 6 months.
- Of the children in foster care during the period under review, 0.57 percent or fewer were the subject of substantiated or indicated maltreatment by a foster parent or facility staff member.
These key measures, as well as other contextual data on child victims, are based on data submitted to NCANDS. Data from the Child File is used except if a State only provides the Summary Data Component. The report also contains data on foster care and adoption and information derived from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) as well as from the Child and Family Services Reviews. This report will be available on the Children's Bureau Web site at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/publications.
For further information about the Child Welfare Outcomes 2002: Annual Report, contact:
Sharon Newburg-Rinn, Ph.D.
Social Science Research Analyst
Children's Bureau
330 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20447
202-205-0749
snewburg-rinn@acf.hhs.gov
Trends in the Well-Being of America's Children and Youth
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, HHS, has produced Trends in the Well-Being of America's Children and Youth: 2003. The report includes data derived from NCANDS. The data include the estimated number of child victims, types of maltreatment, sex of victims, age of victims, and race and Hispanic origin of victims. A figure graphically displays trends in the percentage of victims by type of maltreatment from 1990 to 2001. The report is available on the Internet at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/03trends.
For further information about Trends in the Well-Being of America's Children and Youth: 2003, contact:
Meredith Kelsey
Project Director
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
202-690-6652
meredith.kelsey@hhs.gov
Statistical Abstract of the United States
The Statistical Abstract, prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, contains a collection of statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States. Selected international data also are included. For many years, two tables using NCANDS data have been published. One table reports the characteristics of child victims by maltreatment, sex, age, and race or ethnicity. The second table reports the number of investigations, the number of children who were subjects of investigations, and the number of victims by State.
The 2003 edition of the Statistical Abstract was published and is available on CD-ROM. An on-line version is available at http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-03.html.
For further information about the Statistical Abstract, contact:
Glenn W. King
Chief
Statistical Compendia Branch
Administrative and Customer Services Division
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington DC 20233-0001
301-763-4176
glenn.w.king@census.gov
Comparison of U.S. Army and Civilian Substantiated Reports of Child Maltreatment
Researchers compared U.S. Army Family Advocacy Program data with aggregated child abuse and neglect data from the NCANDS. The researchers used a retrospective comparison of populations to compare the overall rates of maltreatment per 1,000 children in the civilian and Army populations for 1995 through 1999. Then for 1999 data, the rates and percentages of child victims were compared for neglect, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Also compared for 1999, were the rates of maltreatment by race and ethnicity and the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim.
For further information about the Comparison of U.S. Army and Civilian Substantiated Reports of
Child Maltreatment, contact:
James E.McCarroll
Director
Family Violence and Trauma Project
Department of Psychiatry
Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences
301-295-3294
jmccarroll@usuhs.mil
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Studies of the Child Welfare System
Fourth National Incidence Study
HHS recently began the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4). The NIS-4 will measure the incidence and prevalence of child maltreatment by a wide array of demographic characteristics. Like its predecessors, the NIS-4 is a Congressionally mandated study. It was mandated by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-36). The NIS-4 aims to estimate the current national incidence, severity and demographic distribution of child maltreatment, based on standardized research definitions, and to assess changes since the previous NIS data were collected. DHHS is conducting the NIS-4 through a contract with Westat, a national social sciences research firm that also conducted all three previous NIS cycles. Assisting Westat in study planning and in CPS recruitment and data analysis is Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc. (WRMA).
Data collection will occur simultaneously in a nationally representative sample of 122 counties. These counties were selected using scientific sampling procedures that ensure the necessary mix of geographic regions, urban and rural areas, and other major community characteristics. The NIS-4 will determine the number of children in the sampled counties who are abused and neglected during a 3-month reference period in the fall of 2005 (September 4 through December 3) and will use these data to develop annual incidence estimates for the nation.
Earlier research has shown that many more children are abused and neglected in a community than are observed at any single agency. To develop a comprehensive picture of the extent of child abuse and neglect, the NIS-4 will pull together data from a number of agency sources in each study county. The NIS estimates will begin with data from the local child protective service agency (CPS) concerning the reports they receive and accept for investigation during the study reference period. Building on this foundation, the NIS estimates will also incorporate data on abused and neglected children who are seen by professionals in a number of other community agencies, including the county public health, public housing, and juvenile probation departments, the sheriff and/or state police, and scientifically selected samples of other agencies, including voluntary social service and mental health agencies,municipal police departments, schools, hospitals, day care centers, and shelters for runaway youth and battered women. Designated professionals in the selected community agencies will be asked to serve as study "sentinels" by staying on the lookout for children who are abused or neglected during the study period and providing descriptive information on the cases they encounter.
More information about the study and its progress is available at http://www.nis4.org. For additional information about the Fourth National Incidence Study, contact:
Mary Bruce Webb, Ph.D.
Office of Policy, Research and Evaluation
ACF/HHS
370 L'Enfant Promenade SW
Washington, DC 20447
202-205-8628
mbwebb@acf.hhs.gov
Secondary Analysis on Child Abuse and Neglect Topics of Current Policy Interest
Using the case-level data from NCANDS for 2002, analyses of the characteristics of male perpetrators of maltreatment were conducted. The study utilized an 18-State dataset of 192,392 perpetrators identified through the child protective services (CPS) system during 2002. The relationship of the perpetrators to the child victims, as well as whether the perpetrator acted alone or with another person, were considered along with demographic characteristics of both perpetrators and victims, and circumstances of the maltreatment.
- Of the 192,392 perpetrators in the dataset, 46 percent were males.
- More than one-half (51%) of the male perpetrators were biological fathers, an additional one-fifth occupied some other parental role (adoptive fathers, stepfather, mothers' boyfriends), and about one-quarter were in nonparental relationships (including relatives, foster parents, daycare providers, or friends) to their victims.
- The majority (61%) of male perpetrators were reported as being the only perpetrator; 33 percent acted at least once with the mother of the victim, and 6 percent acted at least once with someone other than the mother.
- Male perpetrators were associated less often with younger victims than female perpetrators. Only 11 percent of male perpetrators were associated with infant victims; 21 percent of females were associated with child victims younger than 1 year. However, male perpetrators were more likely than females to be associated with adolescent or teen victims; 29 percent of male perpetrators were associated with victims between age 12 and 15, compared with 22 percent of females.
- The exception to this general pattern was biological fathers. Sixteen percent of biological fathers were associated with children younger than 1 year, and 29 percent between age 1 and 3, while no other type of male perpetrators were associated to such a degree with young victims.
- The study also confirmed NCANDS findings that patterns of sexual abuse were more common among male perpetrators, whereas, neglect was more common among female perpetrators.
For further information on this topic and other topics that are being examined under the
Secondary Analysis on Child Abuse and Neglect Topics of Current Policy Interest, contact:
Laura Radel, M.P.P.
Senior Social Science Analyst
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 450-G
Washington, DC 20201
202-690-5938
laura.radel@hhs.gov
National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being
The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) is a nationally representative, longitudinal survey that focuses on the well-being of children who have encountered the child welfare system.
- The NSCAW core sample of 5,504 children represents all children who were investigated for child maltreatment during the 15-month baseline data collection period, which began in October of 1999. Children were included whether or not they were found to be victims of maltreatment and whether or not they received child welfare services as a result of the investigation.
- A second sample of more than 727 children represents all children who had been in foster care for about one year during the same period.
Direct interviews and assessments were conducted with the children, their caregivers, caseworkers, and teachers, at baseline and again at 18-months and 36-months after the CPS investigation. A 12-month postbaseline followup with caregivers and caseworkers focused on services received during the year after the investigation. More than 80 percent of the children and families interviewed at baseline participated in the 36-month followup interviews.
The NSCAW data sets represent an important resource for researchers interested in child maltreatment, child welfare, child development, and services to high-risk children and families. Information is available on children's health, development, social, emotional, and cognitive functioning, as well as both children's and caregivers' service needs and service utilization. Contextual information is provided about the children's household characteristics as well as the child welfare service system.
Data collection has been completed, and the data from NSCAW are available to researchers through licensing agreements from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse (NDACAN) and Neglect at Cornell University. For more information on accessing the NSCAW data sets, please see http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu. More information about NSCAW methods and measures, as well as available reports, can be found at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/nscaw/index.html
For additional information about the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, contact:
Mary Bruce Webb, Ph.D.
Office of Policy, Research and Evaluation
ACF/HHS
370 L'Enfant Promenade SW
Washington, DC 20447
202-205-8628
mbwebb@acf.hhs.gov
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Capacity Building Initiatives
National Indian Child Welfare Association
The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) is in the last year of a 3-year grant from
the Children's Bureau. The grant is designed to help American Indian/Alaska Native communities
develop electronic reporting systems for child abuse and neglect.
During the first 2 years, representatives from five tribal sites who worked with staff from NICWA, created culturally appropriate definitions of abuse and neglect, revised data elements now in NCANDS to fit tribal communities, added a strength-based component to the reporting system, and identified and met hardware and software needs for the five sites. The sites are now ready to implement the system on a pilot basis. The five sites are:
- Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Grand Ronde, Oregon;
- Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs,Warm Springs, Oregon;
- Muscogee Creek Nation, Okmulgee, Oklahoma;
- Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Oklahoma; and
- Kawerak, Inc., Nome, Alaska.
During the last year of the grant, the five sites will attempt to implement a reporting system that will be similar to the NCANDS, but be ate doculturally sensitive. This pilot effort will identify the feasibility and costs of a national child abuse and neglect reporting system operated by tribal communities.
For additional information regarding this project, contact:
Kathleen Earle Fox, Ph.D.
National Indian Child Welfare Association
5100 Macadam Avenue
Suite 300
Portland, OR 97239
503-222-4044
kfox@NICWA.org
National Working Group to Improve Child Welfare Data
The National Working Group to Improve Child Welfare Data comprises representatives from State child welfare agencies and is facilitated by the Child Welfare League of America. The National Working Group collaborates with researchers, other national organizations, and the Children's Bureau to address data quality and comparability between States.
The National Working Group has produced three reports on data comparability—Placement Stability and Out-of-Home Care Populations, Child Maltreatment in Foster Care, and Child Fatalities. The next publication on reunification and reentry into foster care will be released in 2005. The group has also initiated an effort to develop common definitions to promote more uniformity in state data reporting, and ultimately more meaningful comparison among state data and outcome measures. The first definitions product, Placement Stability Definitions to Promote Consistency in State Data Reporting for the Federal Outcome Measure, was released in August.
For further information about the National Working Group, contact:
Kristen Woodruff
National Working Group Project Manager
Child Welfare League of America
50 F Street NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20001
202-942-0296
Kristen@cwla.org
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Suggestions for Future Research
Researchers interested in using the NCANDS data can apply to the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect to apply for access to various data files. A description of the National Data Archive is provided below, as well as some suggestions of topics of potential interest for future research. Although far from comprehensive, these topics are of interest to the field.
National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect
Housed in the Family Life Development Center at Cornell University, the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) has been established by the Children's Bureau to encourage scholars to use existing child maltreatment data sources in their research. NDACAN acquires datasets from various national data collection efforts and from individual researchers, prepares the data and documentation for secondary analysis, and disseminates the datasets to researchers who have been licensed to use the data.
The Archive seeks to operate as more than a repository of data by providing resources and technical assistance that contribute to the field. In addition to assisting individual researchers as they work with the data, NDACAN also provides many opportunities for scholarly exchange. For example, NDACAN maintains an active electronic mailing list for discussing a range of research issues. NDACAN is also well-known for its annual Summer Research Institute. The Institute brings together a group of researchers who are working on projects using Archive data. During the week, participants consult with experts and attend colloquia designed to further progress on their projects. Group computing sessions provide ample opportunity for participants to conduct their analyses and to work together to resolve questions. Through these and other activities, NDACAN serves as a valuable resource to the research community. Information regarding the Archive, its services, and data holdings can be found on the Web at http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu.
The Archive serves as the official repository of the NCANDS data, providing access to both the State-level and case-level data components. Public-use data sets of the State-level NCANDS data, known as the Summary Data Component (SDC) and the Combined Aggregate File (CAF), are available to researchers for every year since 1990.
The Archive also provides more detailed, case-level NCANDS data. For the years from 1995-1999, report and victim extract files from the Detailed Case Data Component (DCDC) are available. The report extract includes information for all investigations and assessments of child maltreatment, including the report's source and disposition as well as the sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, and victimization status for each child on the report. The victim extract provides additional information for child victims regarding the count and types of maltreatment suffered, postinvestigation services provided, and indicators for various child and caregiver risk factors. Many of the NCANDS data elements had to be dropped from the extracts for these years to limit the possibility that the identity of an individual could be deduced. These dropped elements include the county identifier, all perpetrator variables, and most of the services variables. Records involving child fatalities were also removed.
Beginning with the 2000 data year, in collaboration with the Children's Bureau, the NCANDS Technical Team, and NCANDS State representatives, the Archive adopted a new data release plan for the case-level Child File, seeking to strike a balance between protecting the confidentiality of the data and preserving the utility of the Child File as a research dataset. By increasing the contractual responsibilities of researchers wishing to use the Child File data and instituting additional oversight of licensees, the Archive was able to limit the confidentiality modifications to the data to a targeted set focusing on elements involving race and Hispanic ethnicity, geography, and dates. As a result of this new approach, the Archive released the most complete case-level NCANDS dataset ever. All but four of the Child File data elements are now available to researchers, counties with over 1,000 records are identified, and for the first time, perpetrator characteristics are included in the data set.
For more information about access to the NCANDS, researchers may contact:
John Eckenrode, Ph.D.
Director
National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect
Family Life Development Center - Beebe Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-7799
jje1@cornell.edu
Analyses at the County Level
As child welfare systems strive to improve their practices and achieve better results for their children, the critical level of analysis is increasingly at the county level. Analyses at this level can result in fine-tuning of demographic factors as related to child maltreatment. Furthermore, variations in practice are more consistent within a county than across a State.
Some questions of interest include:
- Which counties in a State have a higher or lower than average victimization rate?
- What hypotheses can be tested as to this variation?
- What practices or policies might influence the victimization rate?
Risk Factors of Children
The analysis of risk factors influencing child maltreatment cases is complicated by the fact that most investigations or assessments do not necessarily include a clinical assessment of a child. The data on risk factors in NCANDS depends on a clinical diagnosis. Children who have been placed in foster care, received services, or had more than one investigation are more likely to have data on risk factors than children who have not been placed, received services, or had multiple investigations. Nevertheless, a more intensive examination of risk factors at the child level and the caregiver level would be informative.
Some questions of interest include:
- Which risk factors are most likely to be reported for child victims and for nonvictims?
- How do the data from NCANDS compare in range and frequency to the data from AFCARS on risk factors of children in foster care?
- What unique patterns of reporting on risk factors are visible at the State level and the county level?
Populations Needing Intervention
The Child and Family Services Reviews process are associated with Children who are at greater risk of maltreatment. Intervention policies and resources may be directed more effectively if more was known about these special categories of children.
Some questions of interest include:
- What and how large are the categories of children most at risk of recurrence of maltreatment in foster care?
- How are these children distributed between States and at the county level?
- How are these children served as indicated by NCANDS and AFCARS data?
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