On this page: About the National Data | Methodology | History
About the National Data
Data
Data Sources: National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), ACF; Population Estimates, Census
Baseline: 9.0 victims of nonfatal child abuse and neglect per 1,000 children under 18 years were reported in 2017
Target: 8.7 per 1,000
Methodology
Methodology notes
Nonfatal maltreatment is defined as an act or failure to act by a parent, caretaker, or other person, as defined under state law, which results in serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation or an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm. State definitions may include additional criteria. A child is considered to have been a victim of maltreatment if a "substantiated," "indicated," or "alternative response victim" disposition was recorded. These are case-level data reported in the Child File and, are therefore, a subset of all children reported. Victims with an unknown age, including unborn children, are excluded. Nonfatal child abuse and neglect rates are calculated using the July 1st estimates of the resident population from the Vintage matching the data year for the postcensal period based on the prior decennial census. For example, July 1, 2017, resident population estimates from Vintage 2017 are used as the denominator for 2017 rates.
History
1. Because Healthy People 2030 objectives have a desired direction (e.g., increase or decrease), the confidence level of a one-sided prediction interval can be used as an indication of how likely a target will be to achieve based on the historical data and fitted trend.