Child Maltreatment 2019 is the 30th edition of the annual Child Maltreatment report series. States provide the data for this report through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). NCANDS was established in 1988 as a voluntary, national data collection and analysis program to make available state child abuse and neglect information. Data have been collected every year since 1991 and are collected from child welfare agencies in the 50 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Key findings in this report include:
■ The national rounded number of children who received a child protective services investigation response or alternative response decreased from 3,534,000 for federal fiscal year (FFY) 2018 to 3,476,000 for FFY 2019.
■ Comparing the national rounded number of victims from FFY 2018 (677,000) to the national rounded number of victims in 2019 (656,000) also shows a decrease.
■ The 2019 data show more than four-fifths (84.5%) of victims suffer a single type of maltreatment. Sixty-one percent are neglected only, 10.3 percent are physically abused only, and 7.2 percent are sexually abused only. More than 15 percent (15.5%) are victims of two or more maltreatment types.
■ For FFY 2019, a national estimate of 1,840 children died from abuse and neglect at a rate of 2.50 per 100,000 children in the population. The 2019 national estimate is an increase from the FFY 2018 national estimate of 1,780 children who died from child maltreatment. State explanations for decreases in the number of children who received a CPS response and the number determined to be maltreatment victims, and increases in the number estimated to have died of maltreatment, are discussed in chapters 3–4 and Appendix D, State Commentary. The Child Maltreatment report series is an important resource relied upon by thousands of researchers, practitioners, and advocates throughout the world. The report is available from this website: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/research-data-technology/statisticsresearch/child-maltreatment.