Users can get information related to child welfare in the United States. Background The Child Welfare Information Gateway is part of the Administration of Children and Families. It provides resources and statistics related to child welfare, child abuse, child neglect, adoption and more. Resources are grouped under the following topics: family-centered practice; child abuse and neglect; preventing child abuse and neglect; responding to child abuse and neglect; supporting and preserving families; out-of-home care; achieving and maintaining permanency; and adoption. User Functionality The Child Welfare Information Gateway provides a number of resources for users. Users can search for foster care and adoption agencies by state using the National Foster Care and Adoption Directory; search for relevant publications using the Online Catalog and Library Search tools; search for State Statutes; and link to external databases related to child and family well-being, child abuse and neglect, child welfare and foster care, or adoption. Data Notes Years and data sources are clearly identified for each resource.

The Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program provides grants to States and Indian tribes for programs directed toward the goal of keeping families together. They include preventive intervention so that, if possible, children will not have to be removed from their homes. If this is not possible, children are placed in foster care and reunification services are available to encourage the return of children who have been removed from their families. Services are available to children and their families without regard to income.

These funds are a small but integral part of State social service systems for families who need assistance in order to stay together. These funds, often combined with State and local government, as well as private funds, are directed to accomplish the following purposes:

States can use a portion of their funds (no more than their 2005 expenditure level) for foster care maintenance payments, adoption assistance and day care related to employment or training for employment. States must limit expenditures for administrative costs 10 percent or less of their expenditures under this program.

Each state receives a base amount of $70,000. Additional funds are distributed in proportion to the state's population of children under age 21 multiplied by the complement of the state's average per capita income. The state match requirement is 25 percent. Funding is approximately $282,000,000 for FY 2008.

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

Users can view maps and tables related to child welfare policies in the United States. Background The State Child Welfare Policy Database contains a variety of information related to child welfare policies in each state. Data topics are grouped under three categories: child welfare financing; kinship care policies; older youth in foster care. Child welfare financing provides data on topics such as total expenditures, TANF, Title IV, and medicaid. Kinship care policies includes information on locating kin, guardianship policies, foster care and private kin arrangement s. Older youth in foster care includes information on foster care age limits, placements for older youth, and state-funded independent living transition services. User FunctionalityUsers can search by topic or by state. Data is presented in either a table (for state specific information) or by map (for data topic information). Data is available on a state level. Data tables are available for download in Excel format. Data Notes The data source is clearly labeled, and a link to the data source or to the state's welfare website is provided.

History The 1994 Amendments to the Social Security Act (SSA) authorize the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to review State child and family service programs to ensure conformance with the requirements in titles IV-B and IV-E of the SSA. Traditionally, reviews have focused primarily on assessing State agencies' compliance with procedural requirements, as evidenced by case file documentation, rather than on the results of services and States' capacity to create positive outcomes for children and families. In addition, reviews have not provided States with opportunities for making improvements before penalties have been imposed. On January 25, 2000, the DHHS published a final rule in the Federal Register to establish a new approach to monitoring State child welfare programs. Under the rule, which became effective March 25, 2000, States will be assessed for substantial conformity with certain Federal requirements for child protective, foster care, adoption, family preservation and family support, and independent living services. The Children's Bureau, part of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within DHHS, is administering the review system. The system comprises two review components: (1) child and family services reviews and (2) title IV-E foster care eligibility reviews. Purpose The child and family services reviews are an important tool that will enable the Children's Bureau to accomplish the following: (1) ensure conformity with Federal child welfare requirements; (2) determine what is actually happening to children and families as they are engaged in child welfare services; and (3) assist States to enhance their capacity to help children and families achieve positive outcomes. Ultimately, the goal of the reviews is to help States to improve child welfare services and achieve the following outcomes for families and children who receive services: Safety Permanency Family and Child Well-Being The Federal Government will conduct the reviews in partnership with State child welfare agency staff; peer consultants will supplement the Federal review team. The reviews are structured to help States identify strengths and areas for improvement within their agencies and programs. The Review Process Each child and family services review is a two-stage process that comprises a Statewide Assessment and an onsite review of child and family service outcomes and program systems. For the Statewide Assessment, the Children's Bureau prepares and transmits to the State the data profiles that contain aggregate data on the State's foster care and inhome service populations. The data profiles allow each State to compare certain safety and permanency data indicators with national standards determined by the Children's Bureau. After the Statewide Assessment, an onsite review of the State child welfare program is conducted by a joint Federal-State team. The onsite portion of the review includes the following: (1) case record reviews; (2) interviews with children and families engaged in services; and (3) interviews with community stakeholders, such as the courts and community agencies, foster families, and caseworkers and service providers. At the end of the onsite review, States determined not to have achieved substantial conformity in all the areas assessed will be required to develop and implement Program Improvement Plans addressing the areas of nonconformity. The Children's Bureau will support the States with technical assistance and monitor implementation of their plans. States that do not achieve their required improvements successfully will sustain penalties as prescribed in the Federal regulations. Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews The regulatory reviews of the foster care program focus on whether a child meets title IV-E eligibility requirements for foster care maintenance payments. Just as in the child and family services reviews, the review team comprises Federal and State representa

report is produced quarterly and annually as per City Council as per LL20 of 2006. the report covers child protection and foster care.

Number of Businesses statistics on the Adoption & Child Welfare Services industry in the US

Via Reginfo: The Adoption Call to Action is an effort by the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose of the Adoption Call to Action is to engage child welfare agencies to improve the timeliness and likelihood of permanency for children who are waiting for adoption. Fifty-three jurisdictions are participating with each receiving technical assistance support from the Capacity Building Center for States, a Children’s Bureau funded provider. Each jurisdiction is involved in developing and implementing innovative solutions to achieve the goals established for this initiative. Lessons learned from this data collection will not only provide an assessment of the overall effectiveness of this initiative but will inform similar efforts in the future. This new information collection will provide the Children’s Bureau with an understanding of agency target populations, specific strategies (interventions), and outcomes measurement, in order to inform technical assistance strategies and provide a national picture of the overall success of the initiative. Baseline data will be collected with an initial survey (Baseline Survey), with two follow-up survey instruments (Progress Update Survey) designed to collect process and outcome measures at two additional points in time. The instruments focus on (1) identifying the target population(s) agencies are addressing, (2) understanding elements of intervention implementation (process measures), and (3) capturing information related to the outcomes of these efforts. Respondents of these data collection instruments will include one representative from each of the 53 child welfare agencies who are participating in Adoption Call to Action activities. Respondents will be able to use their own responses to this data collection to support their jurisdiction’s efforts to document and monitor progress and to communicate with stakeholders. Aggregate reporting will be developed from this data collection at each of the three points of data collection to provide TA providers and the Children’s Bureau with progress updates that can be used to developed more effective and tailored approaches to assistance.

Units of Response: Child Welfare Agencies

Type of Data: Survey

Tribal Data: Unavailable

COVID-19 Data: Unavailable

Periodicity: Irregular

SORN: Not Applicable

Data Use Agreement: Unavailable

Data Use Agreement Location: Unavailable

Equity Indicators: Unavailable

Granularity: Unavailable

Spatial: United States

Geocoding: Unavailable

Each year, the Children's Bureau produces the Annual Report to Congress on State Child Welfare Expenditures Reported on the CFS-101s.

Units of Response: States

Type of Data: Administrative

Tribal Data: No

COVID-19 Data: No

Periodicity: Annual

SORN: Not Applicable

Data Use Agreement: Not Applicable

Data Use Agreement Location: Not Applicable

Equity Indicators: Unavailable

Granularity: State

Spatial: United States

Geocoding: State

In 2023, investigation and alternative response workers in child protective services in Utah had an average of 174 completed cases, the most out of any state. Nationwide, the average number of cases per CPS worker was 66 cases.

In 2022, about 53,665 children in the United States were adopted with the involvement of the public child welfare agency. This is a decrease from the previous year, when 54,240 children were adopted with public child welfare agency involvement.

Passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) in 1974 marked the Nation's first major step forward in addressing issues related to child maltreatment. To commemorate CAPTA's 40th anniversary, the Children's Bureau and its Office on Child Abuse and Neglect have developed The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: 40 Years of Safeguarding America's Children.

This online publication combines historical source materials with contemporary reflections on the impact of CAPTA from leaders in the field. This will be an invaluable resource to policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and students in the fields of child protection, child welfare, and social services, as well as all those interested in the story of child protection in the United States.

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

This statistic shows the estimated annual direct costs of child abuse in the United States as of 2012. The estimated cost of child abuse to the child welfare system was around *** billion U.S. dollars. The total direct costs were estimated to be over ** billion U.S. dollars.

The Child Welfare Outcomes Report data site presents the most current publicly available data from the annual Child Welfare Outcomes Report. This includes data on state performance on seven child welfare outcomes measures as well as data not currently available in the full Report, including additional context data, characteristics of child maltreatment victims, characteristics of children in foster care, and alternate categorical breakdowns for all race/ethnicity data. The site allows users to create customized outputs and compare data across time and states. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

Numbers and rates of child victims for the last five federal fiscal years for which the data are available.

To view more National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) findings, click link to summary page below: https://healthdata.gov/stories/s/kaeg-w7jc

The numbers of single perpetrator relationships (unique count) are counted once for each relationship category. Perpetrators with two or more relationships are counted in the multiple relationship category. Numbers are for the most recent federal fiscal year for which data are available.

To view more National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) findings, click link to summary page below: https://healthdata.gov/stories/s/kaeg-w7jc

The most current Child Welfare Outcomes data is featured on this site. Through the site, you can view the data before the full report is published. The most recently published full report is Child Welfare Outcomes 2004-2007: Report to Congress.

What is the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)?

The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) is a federally sponsored effort that annually collects and analyzes data on child abuse and neglect known to child protective services (CPS) agencies in the United States. The mandate for NCANDS is based on the 1988 amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) which directed the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create a national data collection and analysis program for state-level child abuse and neglect information. Subsequent amendments to CAPTA have led to new data collection requirements, many of which are incorporated into NCANDS.

A successful federal-state partnership is the core component of NCANDS. Each state designates one person to be the NCANDS state contact, who works closely with the Children’s Bureau and the NCANDS Technical Team to uphold the high-quality standards associated with NCANDS data. Webinars, technical bulletins, virtual meetings, email, and phone conferences are used regularly to facilitate information sharing and provision of technical assistance.

Annual Data Collection Process

Every year, NCANDS data are submitted voluntarily by the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The NCANDS reporting year is based on the FFY calendar which spans October 1 to September 30. States submit case-level data, called a Child File, by constructing an electronic file of child-specific records for each report of alleged child abuse and neglect that received a CPS response in the form of an investigation or alternative response. Case-level data include information about the characteristics of the reports of abuse and neglect, the children involved, the types of maltreatment, the CPS findings, the risk factors of the child and the caregivers, the services provided, and the perpetrators.

The Child File is supplemented by agency-level aggregate statistics in a separate data submission called the Agency File. The Agency File contains data that are not reportable at the child-specific level and are often gathered from agencies external to CPS. Information collected in the Agency File include receipt of prevention and postresponse services and caseload and workforce data. States are asked to submit both the Child File and the Agency File each year.

How are the data used?

The NCANDS data are a critical source of information for many publications, reports, child welfare personnel, researchers, and others. NCANDS data are used to measure the performance of several federal programs, and are an integral part of the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and the Child Welfare Outcomes: Report to Congress.

NCANDS data are also used for the annual Child Maltreatment report series. Each report summarizes the major national and state-by-state findings for the given fiscal year, and is a key resource for thousands of people and organizations across the world. The Children’s Bureau has published an annual Child Maltreatment report every year since 1992.

Where are the data available?

The Child Maltreatment reports are available on the Children’s Bureau website at /programs/cb/research-data-technology/statisti.... Restricted use files of the NCANDS data are archived at the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University and available to researchers who are interested in using these data for statistical analyses.

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

The numbers of children (duplicate count) are counted once for each investigation response or alternative response that reached a disposition (finding) for the most recent federal fiscal year for which data are available.

*11/29/2021: Added column including year in which data was collected.

To view more National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) findings, click link to summary page below: https://healthdata.gov/stories/s/kaeg-w7jc

In 2023, the child abuse rate for children of Hispanic origin was at 6.7, indicating 6.7 out of every 1,000 Hispanic children in the United States suffered from some sort of abuse. This rate was highest among American Indian or Alaska Native children, with 13.8 children out of every 1,000 experiencing some form of abuse. Child abuse in the U.S. The child abuse rate in the United States is highest among American Indian or Alaska Native victims, followed by African-American victims. It is most common among children between two to five years of age. While child abuse cases are fairly evenly distributed between girls and boys, more boys than girls are victims of abuse resulting in death. The most common type of maltreatment is neglect, followed by physical abuse. Risk factors Child abuse is often reported by teachers, law enforcement officers, or social service providers. In the large majority of cases, the perpetrators of abuse were a parent of the victim. Risk factors, such as teen pregnancy, violent crime, and poverty that are associated with abuse and neglect have been found to be quite high in the United States in comparison to other countries.

In the fiscal year of 2021, parental rights were terminated ****** times in the United States. This is an increase from the previous year, when parental rights were terminated in ****** cases nationwide.