In the United States, perpetrators of child abuse are more likely to be parents of the child than a non-parent. In 2023, about 189,635 children in the United States were abused by their mother. Furthermore, 125,493 children were abused by their father in that year.

In the United States, more children died due to abuse or maltreatment at the hands of their parents than in other relationships. In 2023, around 364 children died due to abuse by two parents, and 459 children died due to abuse by their mother.

In the United States, more perpetrators of child abuse were women than men. In 2023, about 215,443 perpetrators of child abuse were women, compared to 197,690 male perpetrators.

A troubling aspect of justice system response to intimate partner violence is custody courts' failure to protect children when mothers allege the father is abusive. Family courts' errors in assessing adult and child abuse, and punitive responses to abuse allegations, have been widely documented. A significant contributor to these errors is the pseudo-scientific theory of parental alienation (PA). Originally termed parental alienation syndrome (PAS), the theory suggests that when mothers allege that a child is not safe with the father, they are doing so illegitimately, to alienate the child from the father. PA labeling often results in dismissal of women's and children's reports of abuse, and sometimes trumps even expert child abuse evaluations. PAS was explicitly based on negative stereotypes of mothers and has been widely discredited. However, the term parental alienation is still widely used in ways that are virtually identical to PAS. However, because PA is nominally gender neutral (and not called a scientific syndrome), it continues to have substantial credibility in court. The first goal of the study was to ascertain whether empirical evidence indicated that parental alienation is also gender-biased in practice and outcome. Drawing from courts' own reports of facts, findings, and outcomes, such research could inform advocates and the courts regarding the validity or invalidity of relying on PA to strip mothers of their children and potentially subject children to ongoing abuse. Second, inspired by some tentative findings, the study sought to explore outcomes in custody/abuse litigation by gender and by differing types of abuse. The study relied solely on electronically available published opinions in child custody cases; to date, the researchers have identified 240 cases involving alienation and alienation plus abuse. The researchers sought to expand the database to include non-alienation abuse cases as a comparison, and to address additional questions about custody/abuse adjudications.

This project was a randomized clinical trial designed to test the efficacy and sufficiency of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) in preventing re-reports of physical abuse among physically abusive parents entering the child welfare system. One hundred ten physically abusive parents and their abused children were randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions: 1) A modified PCIT-based parenting program, 2) The same modified PCIT-based program plus individualized wrap-around services, and 3) a community parenting group program that is representative of current standard care in the field. Pre- and post-test measures of the family were taken. Areas of assessment included depression, severity of abuse and neglect, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, child abuse potential, parent drug and alcohol disorders, parent-child interaction, parent and child intelligence, child’s perception of parent behaviors, and parent’s willingness to change behavior. A demographics questionnaire was also administered and a review of child maltreatment reports was conducted.

Investigators: Mark Chaffin, Ph.D.

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK

Location:

Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Ocean, and Union Counties

Home Visiting Program Selected:

Nurse Family Partnership; Healthy Families America; Parents as Teachers

Home Visiting Target Population:

First-time mothers in Hudson and Union Counties; families from pregnancy to age five in Cape May County, and system coordination in Essex and Middlesex Counties

Project Overview: The State of New Jersey's Department of Children and Families will conduct State and local planning to build the infrastructure necessary for a system of care that uses the state's Comprehensive Home Visiting System model. This model will promote collaboration for early identification of pregnant women and parents and will advance statewide efforts to integrate evidence-based home visitation services into a system of care. The model will also increase the availability of evidence-based home visiting services as a primary strategy to prevent child maltreatment. New Jersey plans to initially pilot a screening/risk assessment and intake coordination model with women in Essex (including Newark) and Middlesex Counties. In subsequent years, New Jersey will expand Nurse Family Partnership capacity to target first–time mothers in Hudson and Union counties. Additionally, New Jersey will pilot an enhanced model of Parents as Teachers in Cape May County for families with pregnant mothers and children ages zero to five. Efforts will be evaluated through a comprehensive evaluation that includes process, outcome, and cost measures.

Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

In the United States, most perpetrators of child abuse were related to the abused child. In 2021, around 338,747 perpetrators were a biological parent of their victim, and a further 30,033 perpetrators were a relative of the victim.

This survey of prosecutors was undertaken to describe current practice and identify "promising practices" with respect to cases involving domestic violence and child victims or witnesses. It sought to answer the following questions: (1) What are the challenges facing prosecutors when children are exposed to domestic violence? (2) How are new laws regarding domestic violence committed in the presence of children, now operating in a small number of states, affecting practice? (3) What can prosecutors do to help battered women and their children? To gather data on these topics, the researchers conducted a national telephone survey of prosecutors. Questions asked include case assignment, jurisdiction of the prosecutor's office, caseload, protocol for coordinating cases, asking about domestic violence when investigating child abuse cases, asking about children when investigating domestic violence cases, and how the respondent found out when a child abuse case involved domestic violence or when a domestic violence case involved children. Other variables cover whether police routinely checked for prior Child Protective Services (CPS) reports, if these cases were heard by the same judge, in the same court, and were handled by the same prosecutor, if there were laws identifying exposure to domestic violence as child abuse, if there were laws applying or enhancing criminal penalties when children were exposed to domestic violence, if the state legislature was considering any such action, if prosecutors were using other avenues to enhance penalties, if there was pertinent caselaw, and if the respondent's office had a no-drop policy for domestic violence cases. Additional items focus on whether the presence of children influenced decisions to prosecute, if the office would report or prosecute a battered woman who abused her children, or failed to protect her children from abuse or from exposure to domestic violence, how often the office prosecuted such women, if there was a batterers' treatment program in the community, how often batterers were sentenced to attend the treatment program, if there were programs to which the respondent could refer battered mothers and children, what types of programs were operating, and if prosecutors had received training on domestic violence issues.

Location:

Denver, Colorado

Home Visiting Program Selected:

Nurse Family Partnership

Home Visiting Target Population:

First-time, low income mothers (ages 15-20 who are fewer than 28 weeks into pregnancy) that are involved with the criminal justice system and have a known history of substance abuse.

Project Overview: The Denver At-Home Intervention Services Initiative (DAISI) will implement the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) as a program model for working with pregnant and first-time mothers between the ages of 15-20 years of age who are involved with the juvenile or criminal justice systems and have a history of substance abuse and mental health issues. The goals of the program are to improve prenatal health, help mothers understand child development and foster effective parenting strategies. Denver Juvenile and Family Courts and the Kempe Center will build upon their current, innovative programs to support two existing NFP sites in Denver and create a team-based, community-wide infrastructure that more effectively addresses the needs of the target population. The proposed evaluation includes an implementation analysis and a pre-post analysis of outcomes.

Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

Location:

East Tennessee, which is composed of 16 diverse counties.

Home Visiting Program Selected:

Nurse Family Partnership; Family Connections

Home Visiting Target Population:

At-risk, low income females who are pregnant; first-time mothers will be given priority

Project Overview: Child and Family Tennessee (CFT) aims to reduce child maltreatment through Project Babies, an intensive home visitation service program targeted for at-risk pregnant women and young mothers in a 16 county area of east Tennessee. The project will replicate two family intervention models – Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) and with some families, the Family Connections model. The overall goals of the project include improving the health and living situations of participants, promoting the widespread adoption and sustainability of home visitation services; and evaluating the effectiveness of these interventions for specific populations. The proposed evaluation will include a process analysis, a quasi-experimental evaluation, and an economic cost study. Additionally, the grantee will be working with fourteen selected State and local partners to ensure the sustainability of the project.

Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the incidence of child maltreatment was higher among natural children born to adolescent mothers, compared to that obtained for children born to post-adolescent women. Data are based on the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse Central registry form. The form collects details on all children and parents in the family in which abuse or neglect is suspected, and the role played by each parent and/or child. Topics include age, gender, ethnicity and relationship of household members, stress factors in home, role of parent/child/perpetrator, marital status, whether or not abuse or neglect was substantiated. A random sample of 5,098 observations was drawn from the child maltreatment cases referred to the Maricopa County unit of the Arizona Department of Economic Security's Child Protective Services between January 1, 1976 and December 31, 1978. This sample represented one-half of the cases referred to the Maricopa County unit. The county sample was taken from an alphabetical file, by family name of the adult as reported from the National Clearing house on Child Abuse (NCCNA) Central Registry form. The sample included 247 (4.9%) cases with incomplete information. A "working sample" of 4,851 cases was based onc ases that included complete information on mother's and oldest child's age. The DAAPP data file contains all 5,098 cases to facilitate utilization of all cases when variables other than mother's and oldest child's age are being analyzed.(Dataverse 3/4/2015)

Location:

Statewide

Home Visiting Program Selected:

Nurse Family Partnership, Healthy Families America, and Parents as Teachers

Home Visiting Target Population:

Families at risk for child maltreatment, including first-time parents and parents who have recently added a newborn to their family

Project Overview: The Illinois Department of Human Services will lead development of an integrated state infrastructure to support three evidence-based models of home visitation. Illinois DHS will coordinate with two other state agencies, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Illinois State Board of Education, and with service providers and advocacy groups in the state. Grant goals are to: 1) create a successful and sustainable state level collaborative to support Healthy Families Illinois, Parents as Teachers, and Nurse Family Partnership programs; 2) ensure that local home visiting programs are effective in reducing the risk for child abuse or neglect (implemented and operated with fidelity to the original model) through a quality assurance approach that includes training, technical assistance, monitoring, data collection, reporting and credentialing; and 3) conduct a rigorous evaluation to demonstrate that Illinois' home visitation infrastructure is effective and efficient. The evaluation will examine implementation of the state infrastructure, measure improvements in the operation and impact of local programs, and gauge the impact of these programs on parent-child interactions and the occurrence of child maltreatment.

Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

In 2023, about 5.39 children died each day of abuse and neglect in the United States. This is an increase from 1998, when about 3.13 children in the United States died each day due to abuse and neglect.

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Parent Aid - Child Abuse Prevention Center Inc.

This study examined the social relationships and behavior of physically abused schoolchildren. Its emphasis on peer relationships was based on the fact that abused children’s basic socializing and support system -- their relationship with family -- was expected to be damaged and give rise to internalizing and externalizing problems. Their peer networks therefore were expected to play a disproportionate role in their adaptive functioning in many domains of development. Family relationships, operating through social learning and social cognitive processes, were expected to influence children’s social behavior, giving rise to aggressive and antisocial behavior. Such behavior was hypothesized to raise the risk for lowered social status with peers which in turn was expected to lead to internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. For abused children who managed to establish good relationships with peers, such relationships might mitigate the effects of abuse on later functioning. The sample consisted of 100 physically abused urban schoolchildren (65 boys, 35 girls) ages 9-12 years and in grades 4-6, and 100 non-abused classmates case-matched for gender, age, and, as closely as possible, for race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Control subjects were screened for abuse by interviews with their caretakers about the handling of disputes among household members, and by scanning the Abuse Register to ascertain that their names did not appear during the 4 years we were recruiting abuse cases. Abused children were recruited from confirmed cases of physical abuse in consecutive entries onto the Abuse Register from 1992 to 1996. Children who were sexually abused were excluded, but children who were neglected as well as physically abused were not. The first 100 families meeting study criteria and agreeing to participate were enrolled. Practically all the children were of minority status. Sociometric assessments were carried out in the 100 classrooms of the abuse/control pairs to determine subjects’ sociometric status among same-gender classmates; interviews were conducted with the children about their friends and understanding of social relationships; interviews were conducted with their parents about family and household demographics, family stressful life events, mental health of the child’s major caretaker, and intra-family relationships; classmates rated the children’s prosocial and antisocial behavior; and teachers and parents rated children’s problem behavior. Results indicated that children’s social expectations regarding peers, and two social behaviors -- aggressive and prosocial behavior -- mediated between abuse and positive and negative social status, and between abuse and positive and negative reciprocity. Social expectations and withdrawn behavior mediated between abuse and positive social status. Social expectations and negative social status (peer rejection) mediated between abuse and internalizing problems. Acknowledging that family contextual factors are important influences on child outcome, we proposed an ecological model that designated family stress as the principal exogenous factor, with effects on outcome mediated through caretaker distress, partner violence, and physical child abuse. Outcomes included parent-, teacher- and peer-rated child behavior. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that partner violence and caretaker distress, both associated with family stress, increase the risk for child abuse and thereby raise the child’s risk for problem behaviors.

Investigators: Suzanne Salzinger, Ph.D. New York State Psychiatric Institute New York, NY

Richard Feldman, Ph.D. New York State Psychiatric Institute New York, NY

Daisy S. Ng-Mak, Ph.D. Columbia University New York, NY

Dataset of The Effect of Child Neglect and Abuse Information Studies on Parents' Awareness Levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The survey focused on violence against children and adolescents in Finland, surveying different forms and manifestations of violence. The respondents were sixth grade (12-13 year olds) and ninth grade (15-16 year olds) pupils in schools. The main themes in the survey were experiences of crime (such as robberies, thefts, threats, assaults and domestic violence), sibling and peer victimisation, sexual violence, harassment and threats via the internet and cyber-bullying. Data collection was carried out during a class. Compared to the previous data collection in 2013, the section measuring violence in digital environments in particular was revised. First, the respondents were asked about their home, family structure, relationships with family and friends, health, any experience of substance abuse, leisure activities and hobbies. They were also asked about any inappropriate behaviour, such as hitting, intimidating, encouraging sexual activity or offering intoxicants, which may have been initiated by the instructor or coach of the recreational activity. So-called conventional crime was charted by asking whether the respondents had been subjected to robbery, theft, vandalism, assault or attempted assault, threats, how often, whether they had told anyone, and whether they had suffered any injuries. Further questions dealt with the scene of the crime and the perpetrator's identity, including his/her sex, age, and ethnicity. Sibling and peer violence was studied with questions about assault, and physical and emotional bullying. Regarding witnessing violence against family members, the respondents were asked whether they had seen or heard their mother, father or sibling being verbally or physically abused (e.g. hit with a fist or an item, attacked with a knife) or threatened with violence at home, and who the perpetrator had been, how old the respondent had been when the (first) incident had occurred, and whether the victim had sustained visible injuries or injuries that required professional treatment. Another question investigated whether a family member had been verbally or physically abused, threatened with violence etc. in public. Parents' means of approaching a conflict situation with the respondent were charted (e.g. sulking, insulting, threatening with violence, spanking on the bottom, kicking). Relating to sexual activity with adults (or people at least five years older), the respondents were asked, among other things, whether they had experienced sexual advances from or been in sexual contact with adults, what had happened (e.g. sexual propositions, fondling, exposure of genitals), how old they had been, whether the respondent had known the adult, which of them had initiated the activity, whether coercion, violence, gifts or alcohol were involved, whether the respondent viewed the situation as sexual abuse, and whether the respondent had told anyone about the incident and if not, why. In addition, ninth-grade respondents were asked about sexual experiences, such as first kisses, dating and sex, with peers. Background variables included, among others, the respondent's class grade, gender, age, household composition, and country of birth (categorised) as well as parents' ages, occupations, employment statuses, countries of birth (categorised), and educations. Language spoken at home and financial situation of the family were also inquired about.

Location:

Salt Lake City, Utah

Home Visiting Program Selected:

Nurse Family Partnership, and Healthy Families America

Home Visiting Target Population:

First-time mothers who are 185% below the federal poverty level, and eligible for Medicaid or the Woman, Infants and Children (WIC) program

Project Overview: Four of Utah's counties—all of them in populous areas of the state—have home visiting programs, established in 2007. The fifth populous county, and all the remaining counties, which are located in non-urban areas and have some of the state's highest child poverty and maltreatment rates, lack home visiting programs. With their grant funding, the Utah Department of Health plans to establish an Office of Home Visiting (OHV) to work with the Division of Child and Family Services in the state's Department of Human Services, and with the Division's Child Abuse Prevention Specialist, to support existing programs and to spread the use of evidence-based models of home visiting throughout the state. OHV plans to develop or improve linkages between home visiting programs and other service systems such as health care, substance abuse treatment, and mental health providers, and to identify new sources of funding for home visiting programs. OHV will seek to leverage potential funding for these new programs through possible sources such as Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant. They then hope to establish additional evidence-based programs in the state. The evaluation coordinator will work with an external evaluator from the Intervention Research Institute at Utah State University. The grantee currently plans to compare data from local home visiting programs to national data.

Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

The ‘Predicting And Preventing Child Neglect In Teen Mothers’ project was designed to assess the impact of varying degrees and types of neglect and poor parenting on children’s development during the first 3 years of life, including changes in intelligence and behavior, language, social and emotional well-being, physical growth, and health status. This study included a broad array of assessments related to the construct of childhood neglect, and can be used to test the developmental associations among parenting characteristics, parenting behaviors and attitudes, and child development in multiple domains. Six hundred and eighty-two expectant mothers were recruited during pregnancy through primary care facilities in the communities of Birmingham, AL, Kansas City, KS, South Bend, IN, and Washington, D.C. Three different groups of first-time mothers were included in the sample: adolescents (n=396), low-ed adults (less than 2 years formal education beyond high school; n=169), and hi-ed adults (at least 2 years of formal education; n=117). The mothers’ ages at child birth ranged from 14.68 to 36.28, with an average of 17.49 for the adolescents, 25.48 for the low-ed adults, and 27.88 for the hi-ed adults. Approximately 65% of the sample were African-American, 19% were White/Non-Hispanic, 15% were Hispanic, 1% were multi-racial, and .5% were of an other race. The adolescent and low-ed adult samples were closely matched on race/ethnicity. Mothers were interviewed in their last trimester of pregnancy as well as when their children were 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36-months old. Interviews at the prenatal, 6, 12, 24, and 36-month visits primarily focused on risks for poor parenting, such as maternal depression (Beck II), parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index – Short Form), and lack of social support; parenting beliefs and practices; as well as other demographic information. The 4, 8, 18, and 30-month visits occurred in the home and included both interviews and observations of parenting practices (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment, Supplement to the HOME for Impoverished Families, and Landry Naturalistic Observation). After each of the home visits, mothers were given a cellular phone and interviewed multiple times concerning their daily parenting practices (Parent-Child Activities Interview). At the 12, 24, and 36-months visits, the children were also tested for intellectual (Bayley II) and language abilities (Pre-School Language Scales – IV), rated on their behavior by both their mother (Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment) and child tester (Bayely Behavioral Rating Scale II), and their height and weight were measured. Upon completing each assessment after the child’s birth, the interviewers also rated the child’s environment for risks of physical neglect. This study represents one of the first-ever prospective broad-based, multi-site investigations of child neglect among a diverse sample of adolescent mothers and will help to establish a foundation for future preventive interventions to reduce the incidence and impact of neglect and abuse on child development. This data set provides a broad range of risk and protective factors to better map the multiple and fluctuating social ecologies and life circumstances of teen mothers and their young children. This dataset contains data from pre-natal to 36-months. Please note: attachment codes, Parent-Child Activity interviews, short cell phone interviews are NOT included in this data collection.

Investigators: John G. BorkowskiUniversity of Notre Dame Notre Dame, INJudy CartaUniversity of Kansas Kansas City, KSSteven F. WarrenUniversity of Kansas Lawrence, KSSharon L. RameyGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCCraig RameyGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCKristi GuestUniversity of Alabama - Birmingham Birmingham, ALBette KeltnerGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCRobin G. LanziGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCLorraine KlermanBrandeis University Wa

The Building Strong Families (BSF) project examined the effectiveness of programs designed to improve child well-being and strengthen the relationships of low-income couples through relationship skills education. It surveyed couples 15 months and 36 months after having applied to and been accepted into a Building Stronger Families (BSF) program at one of eight locations offering services to unwed couples expecting, or having recently had a baby. Major topics included family structure, parental involvement with children, relationships, personal and parental well-being, utilization of services such as workshops to help their relationship and parenting skills, paternity and child support, and family self-sufficiency. Respondents were asked for information on recently born children and relationship status, how much time they spent with their children, their level of satisfaction with their current relationship, substance use, if they had attended relationship and parental counseling, whether they were legally required to provide child support, employment, and family background. Additional information was asked about domestic violence and child abuse, legal trouble, past sexual history, and child development. The 36-month data collection effort also included direct assessments of parenting and child development. The quality of the parenting relationship was assessed for both mothers and fathers and was based on a semi-structured play activity, "the two-bag task." This interaction was videotaped and later coded by trained assessors on multiple dimensions of parenting. During assessments with mothers, the focal child's language development was also assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Demographic data includes race, education level, age, income, and marital status. The data collection is comprised of seven parts. Part 1: the BSF Eligibility and Baseline Survey Data file; Part 2: the BSF 15-Month Follow-up Survey Data file; Part 3: the program participation data file; Part 4: the BSF 15-month follow-up analysis file; Part 5: the BSF 36-Month Follow-up Survey Data file; Part 6: the mother-child in-home assessment; and Part 7: the BSF 36-Month Follow-up analysis file.