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March 2016Vol. 17, No. 1Child Maltreatment 2014 Report Released

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the 25th report in a series of annual reports designed to provide State-level data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Child Maltreatment 2014 includes 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 2014 report include the following:

  • During Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2014, CPS agencies received roughly 3.6 million referrals.
  • The national estimate of unique victims for FFY 2014 was 702,000. Children from birth to 1 year had the highest rate of victimization. Boys accounted for 48.9 percent of victims, compared to girls, who accounted for 50.7 percent of victims.
  • The majority of victims consisted of three ethnicities: (1) White, 44 percent; (2) Hispanic, 22.7 percent; and (3) African-American, 21.4 percent.
  • The most common type of maltreatment was neglect (75 percent), followed by physical abuse (17 percent), and sexual abuse (8.3 percent).

The full report is available on the Children's Bureau website at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/child-maltreatment.