- January 2014
- Vol. 15, No. 1
Child Maltreatment 2012
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released Child Maltreatment 2012. This is the 23rd in a series of reports designed to provide State-level data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). The annual reports include information on reports of abuse and neglect made to child protective services (CPS) agencies, the children involved, types of maltreatment, CPS responses, child and caregiver risk factors, services, and perpetrators.
Highlights of the 2012 report include the following:
- During Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2012, CPS agencies received roughly 3.4 million referrals.
- The national estimate of unique victims for Federal fiscal year 2012 was 678,810. Children from birth to 1 year had the highest rate of victimization. Boys accounted for 48.7 percent of victims, compared to girls, who accounted for 50.9 percent of victims.
- The majority of victims consisted of three ethnicities: (1) White, 44 percent, (2) Hispanic, 21.8 percent, and (3) African-American, 21 percent.
- The most common type of maltreatment was neglect (more than 75 percent), followed by physical abuse (more than 18 percent), and sexual abuse (less than 10 percent).
A press release highlighting the report and its findings is available on the website for the Administration for Children and Families:
The full report is available on the Children's Bureau website: