Tammy Chambers
Social Service Caseworker
Alabama Department of Human Resources
50 Ripley Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
334-242-1356
334-353-0939 Fax
tchambers@dhr.state.al.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
General
The State has started to include in counts what the State considers "prevention" activities, which affected the numbers of screened-out referrals and children and the number of unsubstantiated children who received services. This activity began in 2003, but was not fully implemented until 2004, which accounts for the large increase in these categories.
Reports
The estimate of child protective services (CPS) workers is based on current, filled CPS agency positions and the caseload standards set for CPS functions. The response time of the CPS workforce is calculated by days after the initial 12 hours; data on response time with respect to the initial investigation or assessment was not provided.
Victims
Effective September 2002, the policy for determining "mental abuse/neglect" was revised to require a written statement based on a mental health professional evaluation. Prior to this policy revision, either a CPS worker or a mental health worker could make a determination of "mental abuse/neglect" professional.
Perpetrators
State law does not allow a person younger than 14 years to be identified as a perpetrator.
Services
Due to an ongoing conversion of the State's system to a State Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS), data are not available for children who were removed from the home. The State is not able to collect data by individual funding source for children or families. For FFY 2004, 12,065 children and 6,705 families were reported in "other."
Kristen Tromble
Research Analyst
Office of Children's Services
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
130 Seward Street, Room 406
Juneau, AK 99811
907-465-3208
907-465-3397 Fax
kristen_tromble@health.State.ak.us
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
The State was not able to submit data for FFY 2004 because of a midyear implementation of its SACWIS. Data in this system are not compatible with data from the previous State information system.
Nicholas Espadas
Manager
Evaluation and Statistics Unit
Division of Children, Youth and Families
Arizona Department of Economic Security
P.O. Box 6123, Site 940-A
1789 West Jefferson
Phoenix, AZ 85005
602-542-3969
602-542-3330 Fax
Nespadas@azdes.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Probable cause
Reports
The increased numbers of reports was due to three factors. First, there was an increase in the number of reports taken in FFY 2004 as compared to the same period in FFY 2003. Secondly, a program ended in which low-priority cases were diverted to private agencies for assessments. This had the effect of increasing the number of reports that were eligible for substantiation by approximately 2,000 reports. Lastly, the State has an administrative review and appeal process that requires all substantiated reports be approved by a unit in the central office. In 2003, this unit had a large backlog of reports awaiting approval. This backlog was eliminated in 2004, so a large number of 2003 reports had the substantiated dispositions entered in 2004.
The investigation start date is defined as the time the supervisor assigns the case to a worker. Since this is done electronically, the system captures the year, month, day, hour, and minute of the assignment.
Victims
The increase in the number of victims was due to the increase in the number of reports.
Darcy Dinning
CHRIS Project Manager
Office of Systems and Technology Department
Arkansas Department of Human Services
617 Main Street Slot DPN101
Little Rock, Arkansas 72204
501-682-2684
501-682-1376 Fax
darcy.dinning@mail.state.ar.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The State uses first face-to-face contact with an alleged victim as the investigation start date. The "other" report source category includes reports by private agencies, private individuals, and "other."
The screening, intake, and investigation or assessment staff includes Arkansas State Police Investigators (Crimes Against Children's Division) and DCFS Investigators. The total number of staff was obtained by identifying the person's position title that requested the approval of the investigation closures in the application. The screening and intake staff includes Arkansas State Police Hotline Workers who received the child maltreatment calls accepting referrals for investigations. This number is obtained by identifying the hotline workers who completed the referrals for acceptance in the application during this period.
Perpetrators
The "other" perpetrator relationship to child category includes "no relation," "ex-spouse," "self," and "placement."
Services
There was a 14.5 percent decrease from Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2003 to FFY 2004 in the number of unsubstantiated children who received services. There was also a 31.9 percent decrease of victims who received a juvenile court petition. There was no known programmatic reason for this change.
Tom Graham
Chief
Child Welfare Data Analysis Bureau
California Department of Social Services
744 P Street, Mail Station 12-84
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-653-3850
916-653-4880 Fax
tgraham@dss.ca.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
In the past, the State has defined an associated referral as subsequent referrals that are determined to be reporting the same incident of maltreatment as the primary (or original) referral, but has counted them as two reports. For the FFY 2004 data period, the State obtained Federal approval to exclude associated (secondary) referrals.
The State uses the referral date as the investigation start date for all investigated referrals that are completed or attempted in person within the reporting period.
The State no longer counts "counselors and therapists" as social service personnel, these categories are now rolled into the category of mental health professional.
The State tracks the percentage of cases in which face-to-face contact with a child occurs, or is attempted, within the regulatory periods in those situations when a face-to-face contact is determined necessary. For the 2004 July through September quarter, the immediate response compliance rate was 95.1 percent and the 10-day response compliance rate was 92.0 percent.
Victims
The State records one race per child. Substantial Risk allegations are used in the instances when the caseworker intends to provide voluntary and/or preventive services without the requirement that another sibling in the referral has already been abused. The social worker is not required to select any additional allegations (e.g. coupling of allegations as in "at risk," "sibling abused") but is required to select an "abuse subcategory" to show the type of abuse or neglect for which the child may be at risk.
Fatalities
The number of child fatalities related to abuse and neglect in the State during 2002 is provided here for 2004 reporting purposes. This is the most recent data available. The California Department of Health Services, under the auspices of the State Child Death Review Council, conducts an annual reconciliation audit. Five sources of data are reconciled. Data are collected from four State data systems including the California Department of Health Services vital statistics death file, the California Department of Justice homicide file, the California Department of Justice Child Abuse Central Index, and the California Department of Social Services' Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS). The fifth source is the Fatal Child Abuse Neglect Surveillance (FCANS) program that mandates county Child Death Review Teams report abuse and neglect deaths directly to the Department of Health Services. The 2002 audit determined there were a total of 140 child abuse and neglect-related fatalities statewide.
Perpetrators
The State reports one perpetrator, per allegation per child.
Services
There were 77,696 children and adults who received preventive services in FFY 2003, the most current information available. Funding sources for these services include: Preserving Safe and Stable Families (PSSF), Community Based Child Abuse Prevention funds (CBCAP), and Child Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Treatment Funds (CAPIT).
Carolyn Bidwell
Child Welfare Data Analyst
Colorado Department of Human Services
Division of Children, Youth and Families
1575 Sherman Street
Denver, CO 80203-1714
303-866-4392
303-866-4191 Fax
carolyn.bidwell@state.co.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The investigation start date is the date the child protection caseworker supervisor recorded into the tracking system an acceptance of an investigation by child welfare.
Report dispositions are determined by the child protection caseworker and recorded after CPS supervisory approval of the disposition.
Victims
The State does not report alternative response nonvictims. The State does not have a policy regarding alternative response and only reports on founded or unsubstantiated abuse. At this time, the State does not record the value intentionally false within the tracking system.
Perpetrators
The State began reporting perpetrator data in FFY 2003 and continues to focus on data quality for perpetrator tracking and reporting.
Services
Services may be underreported as not all intervention services are mapped to NCANDS.
Jay Anderson
LINK Reports Director
Connecticut Department of Children and Families
505 Hudson Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860-550-6644
860-566-6728 Fax
jay.anderson@po.state.ct.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable cause
General
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is a consolidated children's services agency with statutory responsibility for child protection, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and juvenile justice. It is a State-managed system comprised of 13 area offices. In addition, DCF operates four facilities—a children's psychiatric hospital, an emergency and diagnostic residential program, a treatment facility for children with serious mental health issues, and a juvenile justice facility.
Reports
A centralized intake unit-the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline-operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CPS workers receive the reports of suspected abuse and neglect and forward them to a regional office for investigation. Hotline field staff responds to emergencies when the regional offices are closed. Referrals are not accepted for investigation if they do not meet the statutory definition of abuse or neglect. Information on screened-out referrals is from the DCF Hotline.
Area Office staff investigates reports of abuse and neglect. Investigation protocols include contact with the family, with the children apart from their parents, and with all collateral systems to which the family and child are known. All cases of sexual abuse-as well as serious cases of abuse, neglect, and medical neglect-are referred to the police per departmental policy.
The Consent Decree Monitoring Division, the Human Resources Division, and the DCF Hotline provided information on the numbers of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment workers.
Fatalities
DCF collects data on all reported child fatalities regardless of whether or not the child or family received DCF services. The Special Review Unit conducts an investigation in cases where a child dies and either had an active CPS case or had a prior substantiated report. The medical examiner is responsible for determining the cause of death and the criminal nature of the death. DCF makes the determination concerning abuse and neglect.
Carla Bloss
Management Analyst
Division of Family Services
Delaware Department of Services for Children,
Youth and their Families
1825 Faulkland Road
Wilmington, DE 19805
302-892-6401
302-633-2652 Fax
carla.bloss@state.de.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The number of children in screened-out referrals was estimated to be 2,925. This is an estimate based on the number of children in cases accepted for investigation. The estimate was calculated by multiplying the number of rejected reports (1,625) by the average number of children per case accepted for investigation during FFY 2004 (1.8)
The State has a dual response system for investigation cases-urgent cases require contact within 2 days and routine cases require contact within 10 days. These response times are met between 90 and 100 percent of the time.
Of the full-time equivalents (FTEs), 4 were assigned to intake and 59 were assigned to investigation. The State also has two Institutional Abuse Investigators and two Special Investigators who have statewide police powers.
Victims
The State uses 28 statutory types of primary and secondary allegations to record substantiated child abuse and neglect. The "other" disposition category includes "dependency" and "adolescent problems. "Dependency" includes abandonment, nonrelative placement, parental mental incapacitation, or parental physical incapacitation. "Adolescent problems" includes abandonment, parent-child conflict, runaway, truant, and uncontrollable behavior. "Adolescent problems," many of which do not clearly meet the usual definition of child abuse and neglect, have decreased in the past several years.
Services
The average number of out-of-court contacts between the court-appointed representatives and the child victims they represent was based on a random sample of 254 pretrial summaries or reports prepared by court-appointed special advocates (CASA) volunteers between June 1, 2004 and December 31, 2004. The summaries documented 816 visits in 681 total months. The average was 3.2 visits per case and 1.3 visits per month. This includes face-to-face contacts only and does not include telephone or e-mail contacts.
Lois Branic
FACES Project
Child and Family Services Agency
District of Columbia Department of
Human Services
955 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20024
202-727-3033
202-651-3580 Fax
lbranic@cfsa-dc.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
The hotline is a centralized system that receives all referrals of abuse and neglect. Some abuse cases are jointly investigated by CPS and by the Metropolitan Police Department.
During 2003, the disposition values changed to comply with an amendment to District law, "The Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Act of 1977 (DC law 2-22; DC Official Code 4-1301.02). Changes in social workers' practice based on the new law and other agency initiatives resulted in the changes in NCANDS maltreatment dispositions and report dispositions for FFY 2004. Because of these changes, the number of FFY 2004 children with unsubstantiated dispositions decreased 50 percent from the number of FFY 2003 unsubstantiated children, while the number of FFY 2004 children with closed with no finding dispositions increased by 50 percent from the number of FFY 2003 closed with no finding children.
Services
The NCANDS category family preservation includes "academic guidance," "case management," "family therapy," "housing subsidies," "family conferencing," "parent support groups," "psychological services," and "concrete services."
Susan K. Chase
Data Support Administrator
Child Welfare and Community Based Care
Florida Department of Children and Families
1317 Winewood Boulevard
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0700
850-922-2195
850-488-3748 Fax
susan_chase@dcf.state.fl.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
For an indicated disposition, the level of evidence required is credible. For a substantiated disposition, the level of evidence required is preponderance.
Reports
The criteria to accept a report are that a child younger than 18 years old has been harmed or is at risk of harm by an adult caregiver or household member, and the child either is a resident or can be located in the State. Screened-out referrals reflect phone calls received about situations that the caller initially thought were child abuse or neglect related, but did not meet the statutory criteria.
The FFY 2004 Child File's sole data source is the SACWIS HomeSafenet, Child Safety Assessment (HSn CSA).
The "other" report source category includes attorney, spiritual healer, GAL, guardian, human rights advocacy committee, and client relations' coordinator. Multiple sources per report may be entered into the State's system. If so, the first source entered is used for NCANDS and the others are discarded. The NCANDS category foster care provider is not captured as a specific report source.
Response time in the Agency File is based on 146,996 reports. The response commences when the CPS investigator or another person designated to respond attempts the initial face-to-face contact with the victim. The system calculates the number of minutes from the received date and time to the commencement date and time. The minutes for all cases are averaged and converted to hours. An initial onsite response is conducted immediately in situations in which any one of the following allegations is made: (1) a child's immediate safety or well-being is endangered; (2) the family may flee or the child will be unavailable within 24 hours; (3) institutional abuse or neglect is alleged; (4) an employee of the department has allegedly committed an act of child abuse or neglect directly related to the job duties of the employee, or when the allegations otherwise warrant an immediate response as specified in statute or policy; (5) a special condition referral for emergency services is received; or (6) the facts otherwise so warrant. All other initial responses must be conducted with an attempted on-site visit with the child victim within 24 hours.
The staff figures in the Agency File represent allocated positions as of 9/30/2004. They do not take into account vacancies, overtime or temporary staff. Included are 141 Hotline counselors, 17 Hotline Supervisors, 1,190 State FTE Child Protective Investigators, 208 state FTE Investigator Supervisors, 263 Sheriff Child Protective Investigators, and 47 Sheriff 's office Investigator Supervisors. Hotline staff also take calls related to adult protective services. Child calls represent about 80 percent of their workload. All suspected child maltreatment fatalities must be reported for investigation and are included as reports in the Child File.
Victims
The Child File includes both children alleged to be victims, and other children in the household. This is the second year that the State has included children with no alleged maltreatment.
The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) identification number field is populated with the number that would be created for the child regardless of whether that child has actually been removed or reported to AFCARS.
The "other" maltreatment type category includes "threatened harm" and "domestic violence" situations. "Threatened harm" is defined as behavior that is not accidental and is likely to result in harm to the child. However, the State does not believe it is appropriate to include these with maltreatments where harm has already occurred due to abuse (willful action) or neglect (omission that is a serious disregard of parental responsibilities).
Perpetrators
By policy, perpetrator data are captured only for substantiated reports, which have a higher level of evidence than indicated reports.
All licensed foster parents and nonfinalized adoptive parents are translated as nonrelative foster parents, although some may be related to the child. Approved relative caregivers (license not issued) are translated as relative foster parents. The value for perpetrator relationship of "friends or neighbors" is not used in the State. To meet statutory criteria for child abuse or neglect, the adult must be a caregiver. They may be coded as "sitter" and translated to "child daycare provider" if an unrelated friend or neighbor is caring for the child.
Most data captured for child and caregiver risk factors will only be available if there is a services case in HSn CSA—either already open at the time the report is received, or opened due to the report. Workers and supervisors are related to the individual's assignment to a unit. If an individual transfers or is promoted from one unit or agency to another during the year, the individual will not retain the same worker value in the system.
Fatalities
Fatality counts include any report disposed during the year, even those victims whose dates of death may have been in a prior year. Only verified abuse or neglect deaths were counted. The finding was verified when a preponderance of the credible evidence resulted in a determination that death was the result of abuse or neglect.
Services
Services reported in the Child File are those recommended by the Child Protective Investigator, based on the investigator's safety assessment, at the closure of the investigation. Referrals are made, but services may or may not actually be received. The State does not yet have an automated system to track actual specific services provided within a case.
Preventive services in the Agency File include, but are not limited to, after school enrichment and recreation, childcare and therapeutic care, community facilitation, community mapping and development, counseling and mentoring services, crisis and intervention services, delinquency prevention, developmental screening and evaluation, domestic violence services, family resource or visitation center and full-service schools, Healthy Families America, Healthy Start, home visiting and in-home parent education, information and referral, parenting education and training, prenatal and perinatal services, Project Safety Net, respite care and crisis nursery, self-help groups and support groups, and teen parent and pregnancy program. Counts of preventive services do not include public awareness and education.
The families of the children included in child counts are also counted in the family counts; however, the family counts include additional families whose children were not included in the child counts. By statute, families may include biological, adoptive, and foster families; relative caregivers; guardians; and extended families. A single adult aged 18 years or older and living alone may be counted as one family. If a child does not have a family (because of abandonment, termination of parents' rights, institutional care, or other factors), the child is counted as one family.
Numbers reported under preventive services include families who received services (carryover and new) in the reporting period and children in the families who received services. If a parent received services, (e.g., parent education and training) all children in the family were identified as children served. Children could not be served without the family being served. For example, if a child attended an after school tutoring program, one child and one family were served. When one of the children in the family received a direct service but the parent did not, siblings were not counted as receiving a service. However, the family was counted. Children and families may have been counted more than once because of the receipt of multiple services or the use of multiple funding sources. All Social Services Block Group funds that were expended are reported as a small amount of the "other;" funding sources category.
Shirley B. Vassy
Unit Chief, Evaluation and Reporting
Division of Family and Children Services
Georgia Department of Human Resources
2 Peachtree Street NW, Room 19.202
Atlanta, GA 30303-3142
404-657-5133
404-657-3325 Fax
sbvassy@dhr.state.ga.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The components of a CPS report are a child younger than 18 years, a known or unknown individual alleged to be a perpetrator, and a referral of conditions indicating child maltreatment. Screened-out referrals were those that did not contain the components of a CPS report.
Situations in which no allegations of maltreatment were included in the referral and in which local or county protocols did not require a response, were screened out. Such situations could have included historical incidents, custody issues, poverty issues, educational neglect or truancy issues, situations involving an unborn child, or juvenile delinquency issues. For many of these, referrals were made to other resources, such as early intervention or prevention programs.
The NCANDS category of social services personnel includes Department of Human Resources staff and professional counselors. The "other" report source category includes other nonmandated reporters, religious leaders or staff, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families staff.
Victims
Prior to 2004, multiracial victims were included in the NCANDS category of unknown race. As of 2004, a child victim may be counted in more than one racial group and is reported separately for all categories that apply. Also new for 2004, the State is collecting data on child victim by Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, and by Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander race.
Fatalities
The number of child fatalities was based on the Georgia Child Abuse and Neglect Report, which is filled out at the completion of an investigation.
Services
The State maintains data on services through counts of cases, not children. Thus, estimates were provided. Only data for removals that occurred during an investigation are included. Data on removals that occurred after the investigation decision, or within 90 days of the decision, were unavailable. The Child Placement Project Study (a project of the Georgia Supreme Court) provided the number of victims who received a court-appointed representative.
Edward Nishimura
Research Supervisor
Management Services Office
Hawaii Department of Human Services
1390 Miller Street, Room 210
Honolulu, HI 96813
808-586-5109
808-586-4810 Fax
enishimura2@dhs.hawaii.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable, foreseeable risk
Reports
The number of screened-out children reported in the Agency File was approximated.
Victims
The "other" maltreatment type category includes "threatened abuse" or "threatened neglect".
Perpetrators
The State CPS system designates up to two perpetrators per child.
Services
The State is not able to report children and families receiving preventive services under the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant, the Social Services Block Grant, and "other" funding sources because funds are mixed. Funds are allocated into a single budget classification and multiple sources of State and Federal funding are combined to pay for most services.
Jeri Bala
Program Systems Specialist
Division of Family and Community
Services/FOCUS
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
450 West State Street
Boise, ID 83720
208-332-7227
208-332-7351 Fax
balaj@idhw.state.id.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The investigation start date is defined as the date and time the child was seen by a child protection staff member. The date and time was compared against the report date and time when child protection was notified about the alleged abuse.
Victims
At this time, the State's SACWIS cannot provide living arrangement information to the degree of detail requested.
Services
Court-appointed representative data are not tracked in the State's SACWIS. However, children usually have a Guardian ad Litem assigned to them if they have court involvement.
The State does not distinguish between counseling and mental health services. The State does not maintain information that would differentiate Family Planning Services from other, similar services.
For the Agency File data, the numbers of children and families who received preventive services under Community-Based Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Grants were provided by a manual count from the Children's Trust Fund for Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant Programs. Also for Agency File data, the numbers of children and families who received services funded by the Family Preservation and Support grant were attached to reports that fell within the reporting period.
For the Agency File data, families served from Community Resources for Families School Prevention Program, were measured from the Community Resource Emergency Assistance (CREA) system.
Jim Van Leer
Supervisor, Office of Information Services
Illinois Department of Children and
Family Services
1 N. Old State Capitol Plaza Station
Springfield, IL 62701
217-747-7626
217-747-7750 Fax
jvanleer@idcfs.state.il.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
All calls to the hotline that meet the criteria of an abuse or neglect allegation are referred for a CPS investigation.
The response time to investigation is based on the average time between the receipt of a report at the hotline and the time an investigator makes the first contact. The response time is determined both by priority standard and by apparent risk to the alleged victim. All investigations—except cases involving only lockout of an adolescent or teenager—must be initiated within 24 hours according to State law. Lockout cases must be initiated within 48 hours.
The "other" report source category includes "administration or subject facility," "staff or subject facility," "former employee or subject facility," "not noted," "attorney," and "other nonmandated source."
Victims
Children who are at risk of physical injury are included as physical abuse and children who are at risk of sexual injury are included as sexual abuse.
The "other" child living arrangement category includes "institution," "nursing care facility," "detention facility or jail," "hospital or health facility," "armed service duty," "college or university," "guardian successor," "independent living," "runaway," "subsidized guardian," and "deceased."
Perpetrator
The "other" perpetrator relationship category includes "church staff" and "nonstaff person."
Jane Bisbee
Deputy Director
Division of Organizational Development
Department of Child Services
Indiana Family and Social Services Administration
402 West Washington Street
Room W392
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2739
317-232-4423
317-234-0687 Fax
Jane.Bisbee@dcs.in.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
Per State statute, there are three separate response times dependent on the type of allegation. The "other" report source category includes the State categories of "military" and "other."
Victims
The "other" child living arrangement category includes "school," "State institution," "nursing home," "hospital," "other," "registered ministries," and "all unregistered or unlicensed centers functioning as registered ministries, including afterschool programs." The State does not report incident date.
Perpetrators
The "other" perpetrator relationship category includes "teacher," "baby sitter," "Guardian ad Litem," "court appointed special advocate (CASA)," "resident," "never participated," "other," and "unavailable."
Joseph Finnegan
Bureau Chief
Child Welfare Information Systems
Iowa Department of Human Services
Hoover State Office Building, 5th Floor
1305 East Walnut
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-281-5126
515-281-4597 Fax
jfinneg@dhs.state.ia.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance of credible evidence (greater than 50%)
Reports
The investigation start date is determined by the first face-to-face contact with the alleged victim. Dates and days are the smallest units of time maintained in the State's system for NCANDS reporting.
Victims
The FFY 2004 number of victims who received a juvenile court petition increased 90 percent from FFY 2003. This was due to coding changes resulting from the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) clarification regarding the appropriate methodology for associating court events with a child abuse assessment.
Perpetrators
More than 15 percent of the perpetrator relationship codes were recorded as either "other" or unknown or missing for FFY 2004. This was due to remapping perpetrator codes to reflect staff data entry.
Services
The FFY 2004 numbers of substantiated and unsubstantiated children who received services increased approximately 50 and 70 percent, respectively, from FFY 2003. This increase was due to coding changes resulting from ACF's clarification regarding the appropriate methodology for associating services with a child abuse assessment.
Tanya Keys
Program Administrator
Division of Children and Family Policy
Kansas Department of Social and
Rehabilitative Services
Docking State Office Building, 5th Floor South
915 SW Harrison
Topeka, Kansas 66612-1570
785-291-3665
785-368-8159 Fax
txxk@srskansas.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Reports
The investigation start date is defined as the date of first face-to-face contact with an alleged victim. Dates and days are the smallest units of time maintained in the State's system for NCANDS reporting.
The FFY 2004 numbers of unknown report source decreased substantially from FFY 2003, because of the State's increased efforts to identify and include report sources.
With regard to staff with CPS functions, services are State administered; however, there is not a statewide-required model of caseload. Some CPS workers have a caseload exclusive to CPS investigation and assessment, while others have an integrated caseload of families receiving family preservation, reunification, adoption, or investigative intervention services.
Victims
The number of FFY 2004 substantiated children decreased about 15 percent from the number of FFY 2003 substantiated children. About the same number of children increased in the unsubstantiated maltreatment disposition category. There was no known programmatic shift to account for this change.
The number of African-American children decreased approximately 40 percent from FFY 2003 to FFY 2004, and the number of White children decreased 10 percent in the same reporting period.
Bobby Reid
Office of Technology
Client System Server Management
Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children
151 Elkhorn Court
Frankfort KY 40601
502-573-3850 Ext. 127
bobby.reid@ky.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Perpetrators
Perpetrator information was provided in the Child File for substantiated victims, but not for alternative response victims.
Services
Service data were reported for both victims and nonvictims.
Walter G. Fahr
Child Welfare Specialist V
Office of Community Services
Child Protective Services
Louisiana Department of Social Services
P. O. Box 3318
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821
225-342-6832
225-342-9087 Fax
wfahr@dss.state.la.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
The data for perpetrator relationship as foster care provider were taken from the special investigation types used by the State. Relationship of perpetrator to victim is not obtained on a regular basis for NCANDS reporting.
Victims
While there was an overall decrease in most FFY 2004 numbers, the number of records with physical abuse maltreatment type increased by approximately 30 percent. All other maltreatment type categories exhibited a decrease. There was no known programmatic reason for this change.
Fatalities
The number of FFY 2004 child fatalities decreased about 60 percent from FFY 2003. There was no known programmatic reason for this change.
Perpetrators
Perpetrator coding is problematic with the State's current information system. A new SACWIS application is under development.
Services
The number of unsubstantiated children who received services decreased approximately 30 percent from FFY 2003 to FFY 2004. There was no known programmatic reason for this change.
Robert Pronovost
Manager, Intake Unit
Bureau of Child and Family Services
Department of Health and Human Services
11 State House Station
221 State Street
Augusta, Maine 04333
207-624-8642
207-287-5065 Fax
robert.n.pronovost@maine.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The State's SACWIS System is used to document all reports made to CPS. Report dispositions include "inappropriate for CPS" (does not meet the criteria for investigation), "appropriate for CPS referred to contract agency," and "appropriate reports assigned for assessment." The State's Child File only includes data on the "reports assigned for assessment." The report date is defined as the date when the intake unit received the report. The investigation start date is defined as the date when face-to-face contact occurs with the alleged victim. Both of these dates are captured in date, hours, and minutes in the SACWIS, but reported as date only in the NCANDS.
The number of children reported to be subjects of a report but not referred for an investigation is an undercount. Only the number of children who were referred to a contract agency for follow-up is known.
The increase in the number of reports assigned is not an indicator that child maltreatment has increased. The State is in its third year of a reform goal to increase the percentage of "appropriate reports" assigned to a CPS caseworker. The increase will be more evident in future NCANDS submissions.
The number of FTE's was taken from the Legislative Line List. Screening and intake staff includes the full-time staff of the Central Child Protection Intake Unit and a proportion of field staff that perform intake and screening functions in the eight district offices.
Victims
A Child File record was submitted for any child with the role of alleged victim. Additional children in the family who had a role of "not involved" or "undetermined" were not included in the submission.
Fatalities
Fatality information was provided by the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Panel and reported in the Agency File.
Perpetrators
The State is not able to report on the specific perpetrator relationship of relative foster parent. Perpetrators with this relationship were generally reported as "other relative."
Services
Nine private agencies under contract with the Bureau of Child and Family Services provide prevention and post assessment services in all 16 counties. The number of families referred is available in the SACWIS, but the specific types of services provided are not reported.
Services information will show decreasing numbers due to most service cases being referred out to private agencies. The State is making a policy change that restricts State involvement in services cases to only those with high severity findings of abuse and neglect. State involvement will also be limited to 6 months or less unless court action is taken.
Phillip King
Program Analyst
SSA/Research Unit
Maryland Department of Human Resources
311 West Saratoga Street Room 533
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-767-7353
410-333-6556 Fax
pking2@dhr.state.md.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Unsubstantiated reports are expunged from database after 120 days of receipt.
Rosalind Walter
Director of Data Management
Information Technology
Department of Social Services
24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02210
617-748-2219
617-748-2481 Fax
ros.walter@state.ma.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
A referral may be screened out because there is no reasonable cause to believe that the child was abused or neglected; the alleged perpetrator was not a caretaker; the specific situation is outdated and has no bearing on current risk to children; the specific condition is known and is being addressed by an ongoing service case; the specific condition was investigated and a duplicate investigation would be unnecessarily intrusive to the family; the reported child is 18 years old or older; or the report is not credible due to a history of unreliability from the same individual.
The number of screening, intake, and investigation workers is based on an estimated number of FTES, derived by dividing the number of intakes and investigations completed during the calendar year by the monthly workload standards. The number includes both State staff and staff working for the Judge Baker Guidance Center. The Judge Baker Guidance Center handles CPS functions during evening and weekend hours when State offices are closed. Because assessments are case-management activities rather than screening, intake, and investigation activities, the number of workers completing assessments was not reported.
The estimated FTE numbers were taken from Reports of Child Abuse/Neglect-Twelve Month Summary and Investigations Completed-Twelve Month Summary. The State uses these numbers for its own management purposes, and they present a clearer picture than would a count of unique individuals who performed these functions. Many Department of Social Services (DSS) social workers perform screening, intake, and investigation functions in addition to ongoing casework.
Living arrangement data are not collected during investigations with enough specificity to report except for children who are in placement. Child alcohol and drug abuse are not reported because FamilyNet (State's SACWIS) does not currently distinguish between types of substance abuse. Data on child health and behavior are collected, but it is not mandatory to enter the data during an investigation. Data on caretaker health and behavior conditions are not usually collected. The investigation start date is defined as the date that the intake is screened in for investigation.
Fatalities
The State maintains a database with child fatality information entered by the Case Investigation Unit. As of 2001, a revised version of this database records information on all child fatalities apparently due to abuse or neglect regardless of whether or not the family was known to the Department of Social Services prior to the fatality.
Services
Data are collected only for those services that are provided by the Department of Social Services.
Laurie Johnson
CPS Systems Specialist
Children's Protective Services Unit
Michigan Family Independence Agency
235 South Grand Avenue, Suite 510
Lansing, MI 48909
517-241-3577
517-241-7407 Fax
johnsonl@michigan.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance of evidence
Reports
The State is not able to report investigation start date at this time. The "other" report source includes "hospital/clinic," "family independence agency-operated facility," "other public agency," and "private agency personnel (not social worker, physician or nurse)." Maltreatment information is missing for most of the unsubstantiated reports and children.
Victims
The "other" living arrangement category includes "other out-of-home" and "multiple placements."
Perpetrators
The "other" perpetrator relationship category includes "other household."
Jean Swanson Broberg
Systems Analysis Supervisor
Child Safety & Permanency, Social Services
Information System
Minnesota Department of Human Services
444 Lafayette Rd N
St Paul, MN 55155-3862
651-772-3765
651-772-3794 Fax
jean.swanson-broberg@state.mn.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child file, Agency file
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The FFY 2004 significant reduction in response time from FFY 2003 was due to at least two factors. First, the 2003 data contained several reports that had extremely long response times, skewing the average. In addition, response time was a major program emphasis in 2004 and county staff made a concerted effort to reduce the response time.
The significant increase in children in screened-out reports from previous years was due to a change in their data collection tool for caseworkers that made it easier for users to record screened-out reports and the number of children involved in those reports.
The "other" report source includes "Department of Human Services birth match," "other mandated," and "other nonmandated."
Victims
The "other" type of child living arrangement includes "independent living" and "other."
Perpetrators
The "other" type of perpetrator relationship includes "other nonrelative."
Robin E.Wilson
Program Manager
Division of Family and Children's Services
Mississippi Department of Human Services
750 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39205
601-359-4016
601-359-4978 Fax
rwilson@mdhs.State.ms.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
A change to collect the living arrangement field in the State's SACWIS is currently in progress.
An investigation is considered initiated with an "alleged victim" or an "attempted contact" narrative entry. This date becomes the investigation start date field. Time is calculated in hours from the time that a report is received by the agency to the time of initiation.
Victims
The Department of Family and Children Services classifies all reports as "indicated" or "no evidence." "Indicated" numbers are mapped to the category NCANDS substantiated.
Meliny Staysa
Program Development Specialist
Children's Division Central Office
Department of Social Services
PO Box 88
Jefferson City, MO 65103-0088
573-522-8620
573-526-3971 Fax
meliny.j.staysa@dss.mo.gov
Data Files Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Probable cause through August 27, 2004; preponderance of evidence after August 28, 2004.
Reports
The State records the date of the first face-to-face contact with an alleged victim as the start date of the investigation. Dates and days are the smallest units of time maintained in the State's system for NCANDS reporting.
The State does not retain the allegation maltreatment type for reports that are classified as alternative response nonvictim, unsubstantiated, or closed with no finding. For children in these reports, the maltreatment type was coded as "other" and the maltreatment disposition was assigned the value of the report disposition.
The number of screening and intake staff included the total number of staff in the child abuse and neglect centralized hotline registry.
Services
The FFY 2004 number of unsubstantiated children who received services increased approximately 15 percent from FFY 2003. This parallels the increase at the report disposition level.
Lou Walters
Child and Adult Protective Services System Liaison
Child and Family Services
Montana Department of Public Health and
Human Services
1400 Broadway
Helena, MT 59601
406-444-1674
406-444-5956 Fax
lwalters@state.mt.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The Child and Family Centralized Intake Unit screens each report of child abuse or neglect to determine if it requires investigation, services, placement, or information only. Reports requiring immediate assessment or investigation are immediately telephoned to the field office where by law they receive an assessment or investigation within 24 hours. All other CPS reports that require assessment or investigation are sent to the field within 8 hours or receipt of the call.
Due to the State's rural nature, the majority of workers perform both intake and assessment functions. This number includes social workers, case aides, permanency workers, and supervisors. The number of full time equivalents was calculated by gathering data for a 2-week period as to the number of calls to each field office and the time of day those referrals were received. The State also gathered data as to the number or reports that were entered into the system during the same timeframe. The State developed a weighted formula to determine the number of individuals required to handle the number of referrals.
The State received about 70 percent fewer referrals from medical personnel in FFY 2004 than in FFY 2003.
Victims
The FFY 2004 number of physical abuse victims decreased from FFY 2003 by 80 percent, while the number of neglect victims increased approximately 67 percent from FFY 2003.
Frank Fornataro
Business Systems Analyst
HHSS, Protection & Safety
301 Centennial Mall South
P.O. Box 95044
Lincoln, NE 68509-5044
402-471-6615
frank.fornataro@hhss.ne.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
A preponderance of evidence is required for court-substantiated and inconclusive dispositions.
Reports
The investigation or assessment start date is determined by the first face-to-face contact with an alleged victim. For the State, the start date is for the assessment. Dates and days are the smallest units of time maintained in the State's system for NCANDS reporting.
The number of screened in reports increased 54 percent from FFY 2003 to FFY 2004. This increase in reports was attributed two factors. The first was a significant public information campaign to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect and how to report it. The second was a change in the State's intake hotline protocol to screen more "at risk" referrals into the category of cases to be investigated.
Victims
The FFY 2004 number of neglect victims increased about 30 percent from FFY 2003. This increase can be attributed to the increase in reports.
Services
The FFY 2004 number of child victims and nonvictims who received services increased across all categories. Services to children with unsubstantiated allegations increased approximately 60 percent. Services to victims increased about 20 percent.
Otto D. Lynn
Social Services Program Specialist III
Information Management Services
Division of Child and Family Services
727 Fairview Dr, Suite E
Carson City, NV 89701
775-687-5500 ext. 228
775-687-5525 Fax
olynn@dcfs.state.nv.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
General
The State's CPS ostensibly functions as three regional service areas: the Rural Region operates as a State supervised and State administered delivery system, and the Northern (Washoe County) and Southern (Clark County) Regions operate as State supervised and county administered delivery systems. All three service areas are now using a single data system under the State's SACWIS-the Unified Nevada Information Technology for Youth (U.N.I.T.Y.).
Reports
The information system captures initial response date, time, and type of response for investigation start date. This response type is usually a face-to-face contact with the alleged victim. If face-to-face contact was not possible, the date is when CPS initially contacted any party who could provide information essential to the investigation or assessment.
Victims
The State is currently not able to report on child living arrangement, but it is developing an enhancement to report this information in the future.
Services
Many of the preventative services are delivered by nonprofit agencies that have received grants from the State.
Jane M. Whitney
Systems Analyst/Reporting Coordinator
Office of Information Systems
New Hampshire Department of Health and
Human Services
129 Pleasant Street
State Office Park South
Concord, NH 03301
603-271-0837
603-271-4729 Fax
jmwhitney@dhhs.state.nh.us
Data File(s) Submitted:
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The number of screening and intake workers includes 10 intake workers and 1 Child Protection Service Supervisor. The number of investigation and assessment workers includes 69 assessment workers and 2 workers who specialize in investigating allegations of abuse and neglect in out-of-home placements. This is a point-in-time snapshot taken in July 2004.
Currently, the report count indicated in the intentionally false investigation disposition category includes some unsubstantiated reports. In some cases, an intentionally false report disposition was assigned to those reports with the lowest unsubstantiated maltreatment level. This issue will be fixed in the future.
The investigation start date is defined as the date the report is approved for assessment. Dates and days are the smallest units of time maintained in the State's system for NCANDS reporting.
Fatalities
Data were obtained from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office and the Attorney General's Office.
Services
For some family-based services, estimates were provided. The estimates were derived by dividing the number of children by the national average number of children per family for families funded by the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant, Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program, and Social Services Block Grant.
Community-Based Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect data were provided by the New Hampshire Children's Trust Fund.
The FFY 2004 Social Services Block Grant data includes only the number of children who received services aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect, whereas FFY 2003 data included children who received services through the Comprehensive Family Support contracts.
The "other" funding services category includes preventive State funds.
CASA of New Hampshire requires a CASA or GAL to visit the children to whom they are appointed at least once per month. However, not all children were served by a CASA or GAL for all 12 months of the year. Some cases did not start until part way through the year and other cases closed during the course of it. A CASA was appointed for approximately 70 percent of abuse or neglect cases during FFY 2004.
Art Hull
Manager, Information Processing
Office of Information Services
Division of Youth and Family Services
New Jersey Department of Human Services
50 East State Street, 5th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0717
609-292-9175
609-292-8196 Fax
ahull@dhs.state.nj.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
The Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) requires all referrals to receive either an assessment or a CPS investigation, depending on the referral type.
The count of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment workers includes all casework staff designated as caseload carrying. These workers may be assigned to a District Office, Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit, or the Office of Child Abuse Control. Workers assigned to the Adoption Resource Centers are excluded.
Services
DYFS will not report data on preventive services until a more formal data retrieval system is in place.
Linette Carlson
Administrative Deputy Director
Protective Services
New Mexico Children, Youth and
Families Department
1120 Paseo De Peralto
P.O. Box 5160
Santa Fe, NM 87502-5160
505-827-8400
505-827-8480 Fax
ldcarlson@cyfd.state.nm.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
The State has revised the Child File construction process to include allegation levels for children in unsubstantiated reports.
The investigation start date is defined as the date during which the first face-to-face contact with an alleged victim of the report occurred.
In some instances, data were not available for maltreatment, perpetrators, and perpetrator characteristics.
The count of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment staff represents the total number of FTEs, which includes social workers, caseworkers, and supervisors responsible for intake and investigations. The count of screening and intake workers represents the total number of FTEs, which includes caseworkers, social workers, and supervisors in the Statewide Central Intake Unit.
Lillian Denton
Director
Bureau of Management Information
New York State Office of Children &
Family Services
52 Washington Street, Rm 313
Rensselaer, NY 12144-2796
518-474-6947
518-474-4208 Fax
lillian.denton@dfa.state.ny.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
There is no policy for screening out hotline calls.
JoAnn Lamm
Chief, Family Support Child Welfare
Services Section
Division of Social Services,
North Carolina Department of Health and
Human Services
325 N. Salisbury Street
Mail Service Center 2408
Raleigh, NC 27699-2408
919-733-9467
919-733-6924 Fax
joann.lamm@ncmail.net
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Reasons why reports may not be referred for investigative assessment include:
Legislation requires that for all allegations of abuse, neglect, or dependency with regard to any child in a family, all minors living in the home must be treated as alleged victims. The staffing numbers were provided by an annual survey of the 100 social services departments.
Victims
The "other" maltreatment type category includes dependency and encouraging, directing, or approving delinquent acts involving moral turpitude committed by a juvenile. Unsubstantiated reports do not have maltreatment data because by definition, no maltreatment was found to have occurred.
Fatalities
Child fatality data are generated through the State Medical Examiner's Office. Data are reported based on State fiscal year. However, State fiscal year data for 2003-2004 are currently not available. The most current data available are for 2002-2003, with 30 child maltreatment fatalities.
Tom Pomonis
Children and Family Services
North Dakota Department of Human Services
600 East Boulevard
Bismarck, ND 58505
701-328-3701
701-328-2359 Fax
sopomt@state.nd.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Some credible evidence
General
The child neglect and abuse law was amended in 1995 to move from an incident-based investigation method to a service method in which assessments are made of child safety and future risk of harm. The current emphasis is on what services are available to ameliorate any future risk. This approach focuses on identifying and building on the family's capacities and strengths.
The text of the statute, in part, reads:
"An assessment is a fact-finding process designed
to provide information that enables a determination
to be made that services are required to
provide for the protection and treatment of an abused or neglected child. The Department of
Human Services (DHS) immediately shall initiate
an assessment or cause an assessment of any
report of child abuse or neglect including, when
appropriate, the assessment of the home or residence
of the child, any school or child care facility
attended by the child, and the circumstances
surrounding the report of abuse or neglect. If the
report alleges a violation of a criminal statute
involving sexual or physical abuse, DHS and an
appropriate law enforcement agency shall coordinate
the planning and execution of their investigation
efforts to avoid a duplication of fact-finding
efforts and multiple interviews.
Upon completion of the assessment of the initial report of child abuse or neglect, a decision must be made whether services are required to provide for the protection and treatment of an abused or neglected child. This determination is the responsibility of DHS. Upon a decision that services are required, DHS promptly shall make a written report of the decision to the juvenile court having jurisdiction in the matter. DHS promptly shall file a report of a decision that services are required under this section in the child abuse information index. The Division of Children and Family Services shall maintain a child abuse information index of all reports of decisions that services are required for child abuse, neglect, or death resulting from abuse or neglect." (Excerpted from North Dakota Legislative Code, Chapter 50-25.1)
Reports
The count of reports by report source does not include those contained in a separate Residential Child Abuse and Neglect database.
The State collects response time with respect to the initial investigation in ranges (e.g., 21-40 days). A midpoint for each range was used for the FFY 2004 calculation. There was also an "openended range" (>81 days, n=5). These reports were not included in the calculation.
Victims
The State uses dispositions of "services required" or "no services required." In FFY 2004, the State mapped "services required" dispositions to the NCANDS category investigations or assessments in which the allegation of maltreatment was substantiated. The "no services required" dispositions were mapped to the NCANDS category, children for whom the allegation of maltreatment was not substantiated.
Leslie McGee
Section Chief,
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Protective Services
255 East Main Street, 3rd Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-466-9274
614-466-0164 Fax
mcgeel@odjfs.state.oh.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
The "other" report source category includes the State codes of "self (other than victim)" and "other."
Victims
The "other" child living arrangement category includes "independent living." The State does not report incident date.
Perpetrator
The "other" perpetrator relationships category includes "private out of home care participant," "public out of home care participant," "teacher school personnel," "neighbor or friend," "nonrelated adult," and "nonrelated child."
Bill Hindman
Program Administrator
Research & Technology Unit
Oklahoma Department of Human Services
2400 North Lincoln Blvd
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405-522-1968
405-521-4373 Fax
bill.hindman@okdhs.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
Data were generally not available for caretaker risk factors. The investigation start date in the State is based upon the date of the first face-to-face contact with the alleged victim. Dates and days are the smallest units of time maintained in the State's system for NCANDS reporting.
Fatalities
Fatality counts include any report disposed during the year, even those victims whose dates of death may have been in a prior year.
Maria Duryea
Research Analyst
Department of Human Services for Children,
Adults and Families
500 Summer Street NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-945-6510
503-581-6198 Fax
maria.duryea@state.or.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
Data were reported based on the assessment date. The State classification "unable to determine" is mapped to the NCANDS category "other" disposition. The State collects data on referrals screened in or out, but not children screened in or out.
Victims
The numbers of children with unsubstantiated and "other" dispositions were estimated. The classification "threat of harm" is mapped to the NCANDS category "other" maltreatment type. The number of children in the unknown victim sex category is the number of "unborn" child victims.
Services
The same child could be removed more than once during the year and associated with different reports; each removal is counted.
Susan Stockwell
Human Services Program Specialist
Office of Children, Youth and Families
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
PO Box 2675
Harrisburg, PA 17105
717-346-9657
717-772-6442 Fax
sstockwell@state.pa.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Clear and convincing/Beyond reasonable doubt
General
The State does not receive funding through the Child Abuse and Neglect State Grant.
Reports
CPS investigations account for approximately 30 percent of the total reports that are investigated or assessed by the child welfare system. State policy addresses neglect through a general protective service investigation rather than a CPS investigation. These neglect cases are not classified as child abuse.
The definition of abuse includes "(i.) any recent act or failure to act by a perpetrator that causes non-accidental serious physical injury to a child less than 18 years old; (ii.) an act or failure to act by a perpetrator that causes non-accidental serious mental injury to or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child less than 18 years old; (iii.) any act or failure to act or series of such acts or failure to act by a perpetrator which creates an imminent risk of serious physical injury to or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child less than 18 years old; (iv.) serious physical neglect by a perpetrator constituting prolonged or repeated lack of supervision or the failure to provide the essentials of life, including adequate medical care, which endangers a child's life or development or impairs the child's functioning."
The State has three levels of report disposition. 1. Founded—A child abuse report with a judicial adjudication based on a finding that a child who is a subject of the report was abused, including the entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendre or a finding of guilt to a criminal charge involving the same factual circumstances involved in the allegation of child abuse. 2. Indicated—A child abuse report in which it is determined that substantial substantial evidence of the alleged abuse exists based on (a) available medical evidence, (b) the child protective services investigation, and/or (c) an admission of the acts of abuse by the perpetrator. 3. Unfounded—Any report that is not founded or indicated. For NCANDS purposes, founded and indicated reports are substantiated and unfounded reports are unsubstantiated.
Although response time is not reported at the State level, Pennsylvania's Child Protective Services Law mandates that upon receipt of a report of suspected child abuse, the investigating agency shall immediately commence an appropriate investigation and see the child immediately if emergency protective custody is required or has been taken, or if it cannot be determined from the report whether emergency protective custody is needed. Otherwise, the investigating agency shall commence an appropriate investigation and see the child within 24 hours of the receipt of the report. The county agency, which is responsible for the investigation, documents all contacts with the alleged victim.
The State has a county administered child welfare system in which some counties have caseworkers who specialize in CPS investigations or assessments and other counties have generic caseworkers that perform other child welfare functions in addition to CPS investigations. The reported number of workers is the total number of caseworkers performing any direct child welfare function.
Victims
The State is not permitted to retain information pertaining to the race and ethnicity of the subjects of a child abuse report in its statewide central register.
The physical abuse and sexual abuse categories include imminent risk of physical and sexual abuse.
Fatalities
The FFY 2004 fatalities include four fatality victims whose dates of death were in a prior year. Child fatalities not previously reported in NCANDS had an initial disposition of Pending Criminal Court in prior years.
Perpetrators
State law defines a perpetrator as a person who has committed child abuse and is parent of a child, a person responsible for the welfare of a child, an individual residing in the same home as the child (the individual must be 14 years of age or older) or a paramour of a child's parent.
Elsa Rodriguez
Administradora
Auxilliar de Proteccion
Puerto Rico Department of the Family
PO Box 194090
San Juan, PR 00919-4090
787-625-4974
erodriguez@adfan.gobierno.pr
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
General
FFY 2004 is the first year for which Puerto Rico submitted a data file. While the data are not yet complete enough to be included in the Child Maltreatment data tables, Puerto Rico was able to report some information regarding 12,113 victims. Puerto Rico will continue to improve its data quality and hopes to be included in the Child Maltreatment 2005 report.
David R. Allenson
Programmer/Analyst II Reports and
Data Analysis Manager
Rhode Island Department of Children,
Youth and Families
101 Friendship Street—MIS Unit 5th Floor,
Providence, RI 02903
MIS, Research and Evaluation Unit 5th floor
401-528-3864
401-528-3922 Fax
david.allenson@dcyf.ri.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Reports that contain the following four criteria are investigated.
A report that contains at least one, but not all four criteria, is considered an "early warning report," and is not investigated.
While RICHIST (State SACWIS) can link more than one report source per report, only one person can be identified as the person who actually makes the report. If more than one report is linked to an investigation, the person identified as the reporter in the first report is used in the Child File.
The number of screening, intake, and investigation or assessment workers was based upon a point-in-time count of FTEs for Child Protective Investigators and Child Protective Supervisors who accept and investigate reports meeting the criteria for investigation and screening. The number of screening and intake workers is based upon a point-in-time count of all FTEs for Social Caseworkers II and Social Caseworker Supervisors II working in the Intake Unit, who are responsible for screening and intake.
Victims
The "other" maltreatment type category includes institutional allegations such as corporal punishment, other institutional abuse, and other institutional neglect. In 2004, there was a policy change for investigations of foster children. In the past, all the foster children in the home would be added as victims with a substantiated allegation of neglect even though the incident did not pertain to them. The current policy is that only the named victim has an allegation, and the facility or home is referred to the Licensing Unit to look at licensing violations rather than child abuse or neglect.
Services
The CASA organization provided the average number of out-of-court contacts. This number represents the contacts made by CASA volunteers and does not include the contacts of GALs. These contacts are both in person and phone.
Joanne L. Schaekel
Child Protective Services Program Specialist
Office of Family Preservation and
Child Welfare Services
South Carolina Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 1520
Columbia, SC 29202-1520
803-898-7318
803-898-7641 Fax
jschaekel@dss.state.sc.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
General
In June 2002, there were extensive revisions to the South Carolina Code of Laws, which impacted the reporting of data to NCANDS. Significant amendments included:
Reports
As a result of a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling and with guidance from the State Attorney General, the department accepts referrals on a viable fetus when the mother is alleged to be using illegal substances. A viable fetus is defined as an unborn child 24 weeks or more in fetal development.
When allegations of maltreatment are received by DSS, they are screened for suitability for a child protective services intervention. This screening process includes a review of the State's SACWIS System, and a review of all DSS records, including TANF and the Food Stamp Program (FSP). Separate supervisory review and concurrence is required for a decision to not respond. For reports accepted for investigation, all must be initiated within 24 hours of receipt of the original referral unless permission has been granted for no more than a 24-hour pending period. All intake information is recorded on CAPSS, including the date and time the initial referral was received. The manner in which an investigation is initiated and the date and time of initiation are recorded in CAPSS. An investigation can be initiated in four ways: successful face-to-face with a child, successful face to face with an adult, successful contact with a third party who knows the condition of the child or initial contact attempted. By State statute, investigations are to be completed within 45 days unless a 15-day extension is granted for compelling reasons.
The Department distinguishes between "unfounded situations" by statute as follows: unfounded because abuse or neglect was ruled out, unfounded because there was insufficient information to substantiate, unfounded because the investigation could not be completed as a result of the family fleeing or other compelling reason, and unfounded because the information was not taken for investigation. For NCANDS purposes, referrals reflecting information not taken for investigation are reported as screened out, rather than as part of the "unfounded population." The automated system also collects data on investigations unfounded because of actions due to parental good conscience. Investigations that are unfounded because the family fled can be reopened for another 45-day investigation without requiring a new referral, when the family is located.
Victims
Children for child protection purposes are defined as individuals up until their 18th birthday. In certain circumstances, a child may also be a viable fetus 24 weeks or more in fetal development. While the State CAPSS System does distinguish between victims and nonvictims, by statute and policy, DSS must assess the safety and risk to all children in the home during the investigation. Consistent with that logic, if an investigation is indicated (substantiated), the Treatment Plan must consider all children in the home, even if they are not identified victims.
Fatalities
The number of child deaths due to child maltreatment represents investigations conducted jointly between the Department of Social Services and law enforcement or by law enforcement alone.
The South Carolina Code of Laws does not require that the Department of Social Services conduct an investigation unless there are surviving siblings. The number of children reported as being investigated only by outside agencies is the result of a yearly reconciliation that takes place with the Child Fatality Section of State Law Enforcement Division to ensure that children reported to NCANDS meet the statutory definitions for child maltreatment rather than the broader definition associated with the South Carolina Criminal Statute of Homicide by Child Abuse. For inclusion in FFY 2004 reporting, the State used the case determination date for children included in the Child File. For children who were identified by outside agencies but not included in the Child file, the child's date of death was used.
Services
The department currently does not maintain any automated data on the frequency of contact between GALs and children. GALs are appointed primarily from certified individuals associated with the South Carolina Guardian ad Litem Program, which is not part of the Department of Social Services. At least one judicial district primarily appoints guardians who are also attorneys.
Perpetrators
State statute permits a finding of child abuse and neglect without a named perpetrator. However if a specific perpetrator is identified as having sexually or physically abused a child, a family court judicial review is required to determine if the person should be entered in the Central Registry. Reviews can also be sought when neglectful behavior is so extreme that perpetrator's capacity to care for other children should be limited. Placement in the Central Registry can result in not being able to be employed in a childcare or residential care facility, not being able to become a foster parent, or to perform certain volunteer functions, particularly related to the Foster Care Review Board or the GAL programs. There may also be difficulty in adopting a child.
The State collects data on the prior abuse history of a perpetrator. However, there is currently a logic problem in the transmission of that data through the Child File. The department will continue to work on a solution in time for the FFY 2005 submission.
Mary Livermont
Program Specialist
Child Protection Services
South Dakota Department of Social Services
700 Governors Drivep
Pierre, SD 57501
605-773-3227
605-773-6834 Fax
mary.livermont@state.sd.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
There are 158 CPS staff members in the field who carry out the responsibility of intake, screening and investigation. This number is lower than in the past because of more specialization within the staff positions. This primarily includes Intake Specialists, Screeners, Supervisors and Initial Family Assessment Social Workers. Any of the Intake Specialists and other CPS staff can do screening in the absence of the supervisor. There are approximately 121 CPS staff responsible for investigations.
Start date for an investigation is the date the report is given to an Intake Specialist. In accordance with the Screening Guideline and Response Decision, time from report to investigation ranges from immediate response in cases where there is immediate danger to the child to 14 calendar days in cases of immediate or foreseeable danger or risk when the perpetrator does not have access to the child. The Screening Guideline and Response Decision was implemented statewide on July 1, 2004.
The "other" report source category includes clergy, community persons, coroners, domestic violence shelter employees or volunteers, funeral directors, other state agencies, public officials and tribal officials.
Victims
The data reported in the Child File includes children who were victims of substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect where the perpetrator is the parent, guardian or custodian. Prior to January 1, 2004, these victims also included children involved in investigations where the outcome was indicated. This disposition category was deleted as of January 1, 2004 because the initial family assessment addresses indicated cases through the safety evaluation process. Consequently, the child victim data is lower than in prior years.
Fatalities
Child fatalities include children who died due to substantiated child abuse and neglect by their parent, guardian, or custodian. The number reported each year are those victims involved in a report disposed during the report period, even if their date of death may have actually been in the previous year.
Perpetrators
Perpetrators of child abuse and neglect are parents, guardians or custodians. The state information system designates one perpetrator per child per allegation.
Services
At this time, the Child File does not report on services.
The Agency File includes services provided to children and families where funds were used from the Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant. This primarily includes individuals who received benefit from parenting education classes. The Agency File also includes services provided to children and families where funds were used from the Promoting Safe and Stable Families. These services include children involved in the School Social Work Program and the Intensive Family Services Program. It would also include funds used for reunification purposes and providing funding for various kinship care placement needs.
Petrina Jones-Jesz
Assistant Statistical Director, Research &
Development
Children's Services
9th Floor Cordell Hull Bldg.
436 Sixth Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243
615-532-7877
615-251-9532 Fax
petrina.jones-jesz@state.tn.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Material evidence
Reports
CPS referrals are processed through one of 12 central intake offices located in each of the State's 12 regions. Screeners evaluate the referral to determine if it should be forwarded as a full CPS investigation. Central intake then assigns these investigations a priority level (1, 2, or 3) and assigns them to the appropriate region and county. Current State policy requires CPS case managers to take action by the same day, the end of the next day, or within 5 days for priorities 1, 2, & 3, respectively.
Child Fatalities
Only deaths associated with a CPS investigation are reported to NCANDS.
Perpetrators
The State has recently gained the ability to track perpetrator and victim relationships. The numbers currently available may not accurately reflect true data trends until more recent investigations containing these data are the majority of the latest data submission.
Services
Other than foster care custody and courtappointed representatives, the State does not have a method for recording CPS investigations and services provided by State agencies.
Donna Marler
IMPACT Program Manager
Information and Technology
Texas Department of Family and
Protective Services
8011B Cameron Road
Austin, TX 78714
Agency mail code: Y960
512-834-3758
512-834-3780 Fax
donna.marler@dfps.state.tx.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
Investigation start date is defined as face-to-face contact with an alleged victim. Data were generally not available for incident dates.
The FFY 2004 number of unknown report source increased by about 45 percent from FFY 2003. The "other" report source includes "community agency," "babysitter," "board and care," "passerby," "clergy," "foster sibling," "godparent," "guardian," "potential guardian," "other shelter," "client's paramour," "parent's paramour," "other State agency," "unrelated home member," "volunteer," and "other."
There are inconsistencies, from an NCANDS perspective, in the combinations of maltreatment levels within a report and the report disposition. These inconsistencies occurred due to State policy that prioritizes NCANDS "other" and "closed with no finding" maltreatment levels above "unsubstantiated" maltreatment level when determining report disposition. One result of the inconsistency is that more than 15 percent of reports had a disposition of "other." Under NCANDS definitions, more than one-quarter of the report disposition values of "other" would be recorded as "unsubstantiated." Recoding of report disposition to be consistent with NCANDS definitions would change the percentage of report disposition of "other" to 12 percent.
Navina Forsy
Data & Research Unit Supervisor
SAFE MIS Supervisor
Division of Child and Family Services
Utah Department of Human Services
120 North 200 West, Suite 225
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
801-538-4045
801-538-3993 Fax
nforsythe@utah.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
The investigation start date is defined as the time from acceptance of a CPS investigation to the initial face-to-face contact of a victim on the case. It is calculated in hours for NCANDS.
Services
State law defines domestic violence in the presence of a child as abuse. This allegation represents approximately 30 percent of all substantiated cases. This category is mapped to emotional abuse in AFCARS, which accounts for the large volume of emotional abuse in the Child Maltreatment report.
Richard DiMatteo
Systems Developer III
Information Technology
Department for Children and Families
Vermont Agency of Human Services
103 South Main Street
Waterbury, VT 05671-2401
802-241-2107
rdimatteo@srs.state.vt.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Reasonable
Reports
The Family Services Division of the Vermont Department for Children and Families is responsible for investigating allegations of child abuse or neglect by caretakers and sexual abuse by any person. The department investigates "risk of physical harm" and "risk of sexual abuse." Beginning with 2002, these are mapped to NCANDS terms physical abuse and sexual abuse respectively. In previous years, both were mapped to neglect.
Services
The number of recipients of "other" preventive services is a duplicated count of recipients of at risk childcare, intensive family-based services, and parent education programs.
Lynette Isbell
Acting Assistant Director
Division of Family Services
Virginia Department of Social Services
7 North Eighth Street, 4th floor
Richmond, VA 23219
804-726-7082
804-726-7895
lynette.isbell@dss.virginia.gov
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
An alternative response system was implemented statewide beginning May 2002. Reports placed in the "investigation" track receive a disposition of "founded" (substantiated) or "unfounded" (unsubstantiated) for each maltreatment allegation. Reports placed in the "family assessment" track receive a family assessment; no determination is made as to whether or not maltreatment actually occurred. The report disposition for family assessments is coded as "other" in the Child File.
State law requires that records of unsubstantiated maltreatment allegations and records of family assessment reports prior to July 1, 2003, be purged from the database one year after the report date. As a result, some unsubstantiated investigations are not included in the NCANDS file. Family Assessment records are now retained for 3 years. This accounts for most, if not all, of the increase in the number of reports in FFY 2004 Child File compared to 2003.
The investigation start date in the Child File is defined as the first completed face-to-face contact with any alleged victim or, if none, the "first meaningful contact." The "first meaningful contact" is identified by the worker as a contact that provides information regarding whether or not the abuse or neglect occurred or regarding child safety and immediate family service needs. The information system captures time to the minute. However, due to data entry issues that make the dates and times unreliable, response time is not reported in the Agency File. The data are improving as a result of system edits and worker training. Periodic management reports to help address this issue are being developed.
Victims
The Department of Social Services continues to improve its use of identifiers. Every time a new report is entered in the State's information system, the system assigns each person in the report a new identification number.Workers are instructed to search the database for identical children and to employ a merge function to give them a single identification number. This is not done consistently, affecting the count of unique victims and measures of maltreatment recurrence.
While risk factor data can be recorded for any child, risk factors are not always documented. A new module for postinvestigation in-home services was added to the information system in July 2004, increasing the opportunity to document risk factors.
Maltreatment allegation types that are not covered under the State's child abuse and neglect law are coded "other." Disposition levels for all allegations in the family assessment track are coded as "other." The increase in the number of children with no alleged maltreatments is due to siblings of alleged victims in family assessment reports.
Fatalities
All fatalities are reported in the Agency File. A change was made to the information system effective July 2004 that will allow reporting through the Child File next year.
Perpetrators
Issues described for victims regarding unique identification numbers and risk factor data apply to perpetrators as well.
Services
Workers enter data into the information system to indicate that a case was opened for post investigation services. However, data entry for most specific services other than foster care and adoption has been optional. A new module for post investigation in-home services was implemented July 2004. Services documented in the new module are not reflected in this year's Child File.
Cynthia Ellingson
Program Manager
Children's Administration
Washington Department of Social and
Health Services
P.O. Box 45710
14th and Jefferson Street, OB-2
Olympia, WA 98504-5710
360-902-7929
360-902-7903 Fax
elcy300@dshs.wa.gov
Data File(S) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
Reports
A referral could be screened out for the following reasons: the child could not be located, the alleged subject was not a caretaker, or the allegation of child abuse and neglect did not meet the State's legal definition. Of the FFY 2004 referrals that were screened in, some were assessed as needing a "high standard of investigation" (face-to-face contact with the victim) and some were assessed as "families in need of services."
The Child Protective Services Washington Administrative Code was implemented early in 2003. The code reduced the types of child abuse or neglect on CPS referrals from 11 to 5 types: sex abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, sex exploitation, and abandonment.
Dispositions of referrals are reported based on findings of the alleged victims reported in "high standard of investigation" referrals. A report is substantiated if any alleged victim with any child abuse or neglect was founded; the referral is reported unsubstantiated if all alleged child abuse or neglect was unfounded. The "other" disposition disposition category includes the number of reports that resulted in inconclusive investigations. Referrals that have been determined to be of low risk are reported as "alternative response nonvictim."
The response time is the time from which the referral was taken and a social worker has face-to-face contact with the victim. For approximately 79 percent of the referrals assessed as needing a "high standard of investigation," the child was seen within 10 working days of the referral. Ten days is the State agency program standard.
Victims
Dispositions of the alleged victims reported in "high standard of investigation" referrals are based on findings. An alleged victim is substantiated if any of the alleged child abuse or neglect was founded; the alleged victim is reported as unsubstantiated if all alleged child abuse or neglect identified was unfounded. The "other" dispositions category includes the number of children in inconclusive investigations.
Fatalities
The Children's Administration reviews all child fatalities to determine if the death was a result of abuse and neglect.
Perpetrators
For FFY 2004, the State linked only one perpetrator to a specific maltreatment type.
Services
Families received preventive services from the following sources: Community Networks, CPS Child Care, Family Reconciliation Services, Family Preservation, and Intensive Family Preservation Services. The Community-Based Family Resource and Support Grant value is estimated from community programs.
The department opens a case for services at the time a CPS referral is screened-in. The automated information system does not distinguish between services provided for the purpose of the investigation and services during the investigation, which are for the purpose of supporting the family or reducing the risk present in the family. By policy, investigations are to be completed within 90 days of the referral. On average, court appointed representatives spent 38 hours with a client.
Tom Strawderman
Program Manager II, Resource & Development
Bureau for Children and Families
Department of Health and Human Resources
350 Capitol Street
Room 730
Charleston, WV 25301-3711
304-558-7980
304-558-8800 Fax
tstrawderman@wvdhhr.org
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File, Agency File
Reports
The number of staff responsible for CPS functions is based on payroll data. Workers are cross-trained and assist each other in performing the various CPS functions. Therefore, the estimate of screening and intake workers cannot be made.
Investigation date is the date when CPS first had face-to-face contact with the alleged victim of child maltreatment or attempted to have face-to-face contact. If this face-to-face contact is not attempted or completed, the date would be when CPS initially contacted any party who could provide information essential to the investigation or assessment.
State code "clergy" is mapped to the NCANDS category "other" report sources. The "other" dispositions category includes the State dispositions "client moved or unable to locate," "duplicate entry of data," "client refused to cooperate," and "worker unable to complete."
Victims
The "other" maltreatment type category includes the State codes for "caretaker or child alcohol and drug use" and "refusal to obtain psychiatric attention." State maltreatment levels "risk of maltreatment" and "no risk of maltreatment" also are coded to "other."
Perpetrators
The "other" perpetrator relationship category includes State codes of "custodian (legal)," "father (putative)," and "no relationship."
Services
For FFY 2004, the number of children entering care and the number of children with juvenile court petitions decreased because the State refined the extraction coding to report only services provided with specified date parameters.
John Tuohy
Director
Office of Program Evaluation, and Planning
Wisconsin Department of Health and
Family Services
1 West Wilson Street
Madison, WI 53708
608-267-3832
608-267-6836 Fax
tuohyjo@dhfs.State.wi.us
Data File(s) Submitted
SDC
Level of Evidence Required
Preponderance
General
Child abuse and neglect data come from the following sources:
1) The State's SACWIS system, eWiSACWIS, or;
2) A legacy data system where counties submitted child abuse and neglect data on a form and the data were manually entered into a database.
For FFY 2004, approximately 85 percent of the data were from eWiSACWIS and 15 percent from the manual database. The eWiSACWIS system was fully implemented statewide as of July 2004.
Reports
The State data are child-based, that is, each report in the SDC has only one child. Abuse or neglect reports that are investigated by local agencies can involve multiple children.
There can be more than one source per report. The category "other" disposition refers to those investigations where critical sources of information that are necessary for establishing a preponderance of evidence cannot be found or accessed. Due to an inconsistency between the old and new data systems, "other" report data were blended in with unknown perpetrators. The "other" report problem will be corrected when the State reports Child File data solely from eWiSACWIS.
Victims
In addition to dispositions of substantiated abuse and neglect, the data include dispositions where evidence justifies a belief that abuse or neglect is likely to occur. The "other" disposition category includes children who were subjects of reports with a disposition where the critical sources of information could not be found or accessed to determine whether maltreatment occurred.
In addition, data system variability and blending data from multiple systems resulted in significant variations from previous years in child and perpetrator demographic information. The State anticipates some degree of variability across reporting periods.
Fatalities
The count of fatalities includes only those children who were subjects of reports of abuse or neglect in which the maltreatment allegation was substantiated.
Services
Service data for children who were subjects of a child protective service investigation are not included with the submission. Data mapping and processing across the two data systems resulted in inconsistent service data.
Mary Fowle
Social Services Consultant
Family Success Center
Family Services
130 Hobbs Avenue,
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009
307-777-5479
307-777-3693 Fax
mfowle@state.wy.us
Data File(s) Submitted
Child File and Agency File
Level of Evidence Required
Credible
Reports
The State uses first face-to-face contact with an alleged child victim to determine incident date. The date the report is made to the office is used to determine the actual date. Dates and number of days are the smallest units of time measure kept by the State's data system. When the data are entered and as the case is made into an incident that becomes the incident start date.
Perpetrators
Data were generally not available for perpetrators or perpetrator characteristics. There was a notable decrease in the number of perpetrators reported in the FFY 2004 Child File, as compared to the data submitted in the FFY 2003 Child File (80 percent less). This was due to data collection issues.
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