Currently, the incidence of child abuse and neglect is difficult to measure. Data-tracking systems are incomplete, many cases of child abuse go unreported, and variations in the way cases are screened and investigated by State child protective services (CPS) can significantly impact estimates. It is generally believed that current data-collection methods produce conservative estimates of the problem. For example, national research studies found that 85 percent of child abuse and neglect deaths had been systematically misidentified due to poor medical diagnoses, incomplete police and child protection investigations, inaccurate or incomplete crime reports, and flaws in the way the cause of death is recorded on death certificates.1

The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) measures child abuse and neglect in two principal ways: 1) the number of reported cases, and 2) the number of substantiated cases. "Substantiated" means an allegation of maltreatment was confirmed according to the level of evidence required by State law or State policy. Experts disagree over which measure is more valid.

Anchorage's rate of substantiated child abuse and neglect is the same as for Alaska and the US, but Anchorage's rate of reported child abuse is higher than in the U.S. and lower than in Alaska.

Research indicates that Nationally 5.4 out of every 100,000 children (approximately 2,000 a year) are killed by child abuse and neglect.2 In comparison, the overall U.S. murder rate is 10 per 100,000.3

Studies find the majority of maltreated children are abused by birth parents (78%), by non-birth parents or parent-substitutes (step-parent, foster parent, or parent's boyfriend or girlfriend) (14%), and by others (9%).4

The National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect is a Congressionally-mandated, periodic effort of the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) to provide estimates of the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the U.S. and to measure changes in incidence from earlier studies. There have been three NIS studies to date: 1980, 1986, and 1993.

Many experts believe the NIS studies are a better measure of child abuse and neglect than the CPS data. The NIS study includes children investigated by State Child Protective Service (CPS) plus cases seen by community professionals which were not reported to CPS or which were screened out by CPS without investigation. In addition, there is some evidence the CPS system has reached its capacity to respond to reports of maltreated children. Only 28% of the children identified by the NIS study as harmed by abuse and neglect in 1993 were investigated by CPS.5 This represents a drop from 44% having been investigated in 1986, although the number of children investigated by CPS has remained constant.6 The accuracy of CPS measures of child abuse depend on how well CPS does its job, which in turn depends on many factors, such as funding, community norms, state law, etc.

The latest NIS study (1993) estimated that 23.1 out of every 1,000 children in the U.S. are abused or neglected.7 This represents a 67% increase in the incidence of child maltreatment since 1986 and a 147% increase since 1980.8

Analysts believe that while the increases are partially due to greater public willingness to report suspected incidents, the magnitude of the increase denotes real increases in the scope of the problem as well.9 They believe the greater public willingness to report child abuse is due to greater public awareness both of child maltreatment as a social problem and the resources available to respond to it.10

The effects and long-term ramifications of child abuse affect everyone in the community. Research shows that children who were victims of maltreatment were significantly more likely to display problem behaviors during adolescence, including serious and violent delinquency, teen pregnancy, drug use, low academic achievement, and mental health problems.11

Childhood maltreatment increases the risk by at least 25% for each of the above outcomes and doubles the risk that they will experience more than one of these problems during adolescence.12

The causes of child maltreatment are complex and not fully understood. Some important contributing factors, however, have been identified. They include: alcohol and substance abuse, family structure and size, poverty, domestic violence, and community violence.

Children in alcohol-abusing families were nearly 4 times more likely to be maltreated overall. They were almost 5 times more likely to be physically neglected and 10 times more likely to be emotionally neglected than children in non-alcohol abusing families.16

¨ The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 50 to 80 percent of all child abuse cases substantiated by Child Protective Services (CPS) involve some degree of substance abuse by the child's parents.17

¨ In Alaska, a 1997 special audit of DFYS child abuse cases found 83% of child abuse cases with at least 6 reports within 2 years were alcohol-related. 18

Children in the largest families were physically neglected at nearly three times the rate of children from one-child families.21 Children of single parents were at higher risk of physical abuse and all types of neglect and children living with only their fathers were approximately one and two-thirds more likely to be physically abused than children living with only their mothers.22 Research suggests that the stress and responsibilities associated with single-parenting and with numerous children may partially explain the relationship between the incidence of maltreatment and family structure and size.

The Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect found that family income was significantly related to incidence rates in nearly every category of maltreatment.23 Children whose families had annual incomes below $15,000 were more than 22 times more likely to experience maltreatment, more than 44 times more likely to be neglected, and more than 22 times more likely to be seriously injured by maltreatment than families with incomes of $30,000 or more.24 A number of problems associated with poverty may contribute to higher child maltreatment, including: transience in residence; poorer education; higher rates of substance abuse and emotional disorders; and less adequate support systems.25 The study added the decreased economic resources among poor families and the increase in the number of children living in poverty may at least partially explain the increase in the child maltreatment incidence rate since 1986.26

In their 1995 report, A Nation's Shame: Fatal Child Abuse and Neglect in the U.S., the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect concluded that a clear link existed between assaults on women and child abuse.27

Nineteen percent of State liaisons in a National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse (NCPCA) survey reported that a significant percentage of their adult clients experienced domestic violence and had their own history of battering.28

Child protection workers in the Massachusetts Department of Social Services reported that an average of 32.5 percent of their cases statewide involved domestic violence.29 A 1990 survey found that 50 percent of men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently physically abused their children. This study also found that mothers who were beaten were at least twice as likely to physically abuse their own children as mothers who were not abused.39

Increasingly, studies are showing that violence in all its forms adversely affects the young people who experience, witness, or feel threatened by it. Exposure to violence can adversely affect mental health and development and increases the likelihood that they themselves will commit acts of violence.40 Currently, youths (ages 12 to 17) are more likely than adults to be victims of violent crime.

Although young children usually are not participants in criminal activity, their presence in a violent environment increases their risk of being physically and psychologically harmed. Homicide accounts for 10 percent of all deaths of children ages 1 to 4.41 According to the American Humane Association (1996), 13 children are killed and 30 children are wounded by guns every day in the United States. Since 1988, American teenage boys have been more likely to die from gunshot wounds than from all other causes combined. According to the Children's Defense Fund (1996), firearm violence-whether homicide, suicide, or accidental shooting-killed 5,367 children (ages 1 to 19) in 1992.42

Each State provides definitions of child abuse and neglect. In general, child maltreatment is defined as any act or failure to act resulting in the imminent risk of serious harm, death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation of a child (under the age of 18), by a person with custodial responsibilities for a child's welfare. Alaska statutes regarding child abuse may be found at www.calib.com/nccanch/services/statutes.htm#Series, The Child Abuse and Neglect State Statutes Series.