Reporting and identifying child physical abuse: How well are we doing?

Area of Science:

• Child Welfare Research
• Public Health Policy
• Forensic Psychology

Background:

• Child protection system entry in the U.S. relies on child maltreatment reports.
• Previous studies suggest report source and child age influence outcomes, but national data is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the sources of child physical abuse (CPA) reports nationally.
• To determine if report source and child age affect the likelihood of CPA substantiation.

Main Methods:

• Secondary data analysis of a U.S. national sample (204,414 children) from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (2013).
• Multilevel logistic regressions were used to examine report source and child age as predictors of substantiation.

Main Results:

• Less than 15% of CPA reports resulted in confirmed abuse.
• Professionally mandated reporters made most CPA reports and had higher substantiation rates than nonprofessionals.
• Substantiation likelihood decreased with increasing child age for professional reports.

Conclusions:

• Report source and child age are significant factors in CPA substantiation.
• Even high-accuracy professional groups have limited substantiation rates.
• Enhanced training for improved CPA reporting and identification is warranted.