Child maltreatment includes physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, as well as neglect (including medical neglect). Maltreatment in general is associated with a number of negative outcomes for children including developmental delay, lower school achievement, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and mental health problems. Many of these problems can follow maltreated children into adulthood.27 Certain types of maltreatment can result in long-term physical, social, and emotional problems, and even death. For example, abusive head trauma can result in mental retardation, cerebral palsy, or paralysis.28 Please note that the calculation of child maltreatment has been changed and is not comparable to data presented in previous editions of America's Children. Specifically, rates are now based on unduplicated counts, and alternative response victims are no longer included.
Indicator FAM7.A: Rate of substantiated maltreatment of children ages 0–17 by age, 2008–2015
NOTE: The data in this figure are rates of victimization based on investigations and assessments by Child Protective Services that found the child to be a victim of one or more types of maltreatment. The rates are based on unique counts of victims of maltreatment. A unique count includes each child only one time regardless of the number of times the child was determined to be a victim. Substantiated maltreatment includes the dispositions of substantiated or indicated. This is not comparable to child maltreatment estimates in previous editions of America's Children, which were based on duplicated rather than unduplicated counts and also included alternative response victims. Alternative response victim is the provision of a response other than an investigation that determines a child was a victim of maltreatment. The number of states reporting may vary from year to year. States vary in their definition of abuse and neglect.
SOURCE: Administration for Children and Families, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.
Indicator FAM7.B: Percentage of substantiated maltreatment of children ages 0–17 by maltreatment type, 2015
NOTE: Percentages for neglect do not include medical neglect. Medical neglect is reported separately. Bars total to more than 100 percent because a single child may be victim of multiple kinds of maltreatment. Substantiated maltreatment includes the dispositions of substantiated or indicated. This is a change from prior years when substantiated maltreatment included dispositions of substantiated, indicated, and alternative response victim. Alternative response victim is the provision of a response other than an investigation that determines a child was a victim of maltreatment.
SOURCE: Administration for Children and Families, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.
FAM7A HTML Table | FAM7B HTML Table
27 Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). Long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from the Child Welfare Information Gateway.
28 Christian, C. W., Block, R., & the Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. (2009). Abusive head trauma in infants and children. Pediatrics 123:1409–1411.