Change Indicator

Children who are confirmed by child protective services as victims of maltreatment by gender in United States

Data Selected

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Location Gender Data Type 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
United States
Female
Number
345,867
340,511
342,078
345,205
335,416
317,688
305,508
291,901
Percent
51%
51%
51%
51%
52%
52%
52%
53%
Male
Number
330,176
324,680
325,390
326,303
314,929
295,552
277,876
261,877
Percent
49%
49%
49%
49%
48%
48%
48%
47%
Total
Number
676,043
665,191
667,468
671,508
650,345
613,240
583,384
553,778
Percent
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
Location Gender Data Type 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Female
Number
345,867
340,511
342,078
345,205
335,416
317,688
305,508
291,901
Percent
51%
51%
51%
51%
52%
52%
52%
53%
Male
Number
330,176
324,680
325,390
326,303
314,929
295,552
277,876
261,877
Percent
49%
49%
49%
49%
48%
48%
48%
47%
Total
Number
676,043
665,191
667,468
671,508
650,345
613,240
583,384
553,778
Percent
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

Definition and Source

PROVIDER

Definition

This indicator represents the number and percent of child victims ages 0-17, by gender. Child victims are children who are subject to at least one substantiated or indicated maltreatment report. Cases of maltreatment where the child was not yet born are not 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.

Data Source

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File, FFY 2000–2022.

NCANDS data are used with the permission of Cornell University’s National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect website, http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu. The collector of the original data, the funding agency, NDACAN, Cornell University, and the agents or employees of these institutions bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.

Notes

Due to missing state data, national totals are not provided before 2004.
National estimates after 2005 include Puerto Rico.
N.R. - No data are reported.

Last Updated

March 2024