Children who are confirmed by child protective services as victims of maltreatment in Maine

Prior to 2015, children with a report outcome of "alternative response" were included as victims. From 2015 onwards, reports with "alternative response" as the outcome are not included in the estimate of victims to align with the Children's Bureau's Child Maltreatment report. However, unlike many of the tabulations in the report, our analyses examine the number of children who were maltreated, not the number of maltreatment incidents. State estimates are shown only for states with completed reports that resulted in a disposition (or finding) as an outcome of the CPS response during the reporting year.

It is important to note that these numbers only represent child victims who came to the attention of authorities through a report of maltreatment. Because of this, and because of state differences in policies and practices—including variations in the legal definitions of maltreatment—readers should exercise caution in interpreting trends and in making state-to-state comparisons.

Child Fatalities
In the publicly-available NCANDS file, state names are suppressed on records dealing with child fatalities to protect confidentiality. Prior to 2010, fatalities were included in our national totals. Beginning in 2010, our national total includes fatalities if they also had a prior investigation report that was not associated with a fatality, but otherwise fatalities are excluded. We made this exclusion because it is not possible in the public-use file to identify which of the children who died also have a record indicating a prior maltreatment investigation. We also found that this approach yields national totals that are closer to the Children’s Bureau’s estimates (i.e., national totals are more likely to be overestimated when fatalities are included).

Prior to 2015, children with a report outcome of "alternative response" were included as victims. From 2015 onwards, reports with "alternative response" as the outcome are not included in the estimate of victims to align with the Children's Bureau's Child Maltreatment report. However, unlike many of the tabulations in the report, our analyses examine the number of children who were maltreated, not the number of maltreatment incidents. State estimates are shown only for states with completed reports that resulted in a disposition (or finding) as an outcome of the CPS response during the reporting year.

It is important to note that these numbers only represent child victims who came to the attention of authorities through a report of maltreatment. Because of this, and because of state differences in policies and practices—including variations in the legal definitions of maltreatment—readers should exercise caution in interpreting trends and in making state-to-state comparisons.

Child Fatalities
In the publicly-available NCANDS file, state names are suppressed on records dealing with child fatalities to protect confidentiality. Prior to 2010, fatalities were included in our national totals. Beginning in 2010, our national total includes fatalities if they also had a prior investigation report that was not associated with a fatality, but otherwise fatalities are excluded. We made this exclusion because it is not possible in the public-use file to identify which of the children who died also have a record indicating a prior maltreatment investigation. We also found that this approach yields national totals that are closer to the Children’s Bureau’s estimates (i.e., national totals are more likely to be overestimated when fatalities are included).