NCJ Number
188383
Date Published
2001
Length
113 pages
Annotation
This report presents national data on child abuse and neglect known to child protective services in the United States during 1999.
Abstract
This 1999 report provides State data on the number of children abused and neglected, types of abuse, the number of fatalities due to maltreatment, and the types of services offered to address maltreatment and prevent future abuse obtained through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). The report is structured and organized in six sections with data covering the referrals and reports of child maltreatment, characteristics of child maltreatment victims, information about the perpetrators of abuse, data on fatalities that occurred as a result of maltreatment, services in the prevention of maltreatment and assistance to victims of maltreatment, and reports on current research activities using NCANDS data. Data were gathered from both the NCANDS’ Summary Data Component and the Detailed Case Data Component. Highlighted findings include: (1) more than half of child abuse and neglect reports (55 percent) were received from professionals and the remaining 45 percent were submitted by non-professionals, including family and community members; (2) of the estimated 2,974,000 referrals received, approximately three-fifths (60 percent) were transferred for investigation or assessment and two-fifths (40 percent) were screened out; (3) there were an estimated 826,000 victims of maltreatment nationwide, and the 1999 rate of victimization, 11.8 per 1,000 children, decreased from the 1998 rate of 12.6; (4) almost 58 percent of all victims suffered neglect, while 21 percent suffered physical abuse, 11 percent were sexually abused, and more than 40 percent of all victims reported being victims of other types of maltreatment; (5) sixty-two percent of perpetrators were female, and female perpetrators were typically younger than their male counterparts; (6) female parents were identified as the perpetrators of neglect and physical abuse for the highest percentage of child victims, and male parents were identified as the perpetrators of sexual abuse for the highest percentage of victims; (7) an estimated 1,100 children died of abuse and neglect, a rate of approximately 1.62 deaths per 1,000,000 children in the general population; (8) slightly more than 2 percent of all fatalities occurred while the victim was in foster care; (9) nationwide, an estimated 1,563,000 children, 22.3 out of every 1,000 children in the population, received preventive services; and (10) the average time from the start of investigation to provision of service was 47 days. Appendices, tables, charts, and graphs