Cumulative Prevalence of Confirmed Maltreatment and Foster Care Placement for US Children by Race/Ethnicity, 2011–2016

Abstract

Objectives. To estimate the cumulative prevalence of confirmed child maltreatment and foster care placement for US children and changes in prevalence between 2011 and 2016. Methods. We used synthetic cohort life tables and data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and population counts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results. US children’s cumulative prevalence of confirmed maltreatment remained stable between 2011 and 2016 at about 11.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 11.6%, 11.7%) of the population and increased by roughly 11% for foster care placement from 4.8% (95% CI = 4.8%, 4.8%) to 5.3% (95% CI = 5.3%, 5.4%). American Indian/Alaska Native children experienced the largest change, an 18.0% increase in confirmed maltreatment risk from 13.4% (95% CI = 13.1%, 13.6%) to 15.8% (95% CI = 15.6%, 16.1%) and a 21% increase in foster care placement risk from 9.4% (95% CI = 9.2%, 9.6%) to 11.4% (95% CI = 11.2%, 11.6%). Conclusions. Confirmed child maltreatment and foster care placement continued to be experienced at high rates in the United States in 2012 through 2016, with especially high risks for American Indian/Alaska Native children. Rates of foster care have increased, whereas rates of confirmed maltreatment have remained stable.

Contact with Child Protective Services is pervasive but unequally distributed by race and ethnicity in large US counties

“…National data from the United States indicate that roughly 1 in 3 children will ever have a CPS investigation (1), 1 in 8 will ever experience confirmed maltreatment (2, 3), 1 in 17 will ever be placed in foster care (2,4), and 1 in 100 will ever have parental rights terminated (5). These outcomes are especially elevated for Black children and, in the case of foster care placement and TPR, Native American children (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Although it is unclear whether CPS contact causes poor outcomes or is merely associated with them, research nonetheless shows that children who have come into contact with CPS fare poorly on a range of outcomes (6,7).…”

“…Existing data estimating the cumulative prevalence of contact with CPS are exclusively at the national (1,2,4,5) or state (3,8) level, with the exception of a small number of studies considering counties or neighborhoods in only one state (9,10). Yet most decisions about whether to investigate a child maltreatment allegation, confirm that maltreatment occurred, place a child in foster care, or terminate parental rights happen not at the national or state level but at the county level (11).…”

Foster Care: How We Can, and Should, Do More for Maltreated Children

“…Relevant historical contexts include 1) the use of family separation during slavery and the exclusion of Black children from child protection agencies (McGowan, 2014); 2) child welfare concerns were used as pretext for separating 25–35% of all Native American children from their families and tribes in the decades preceding the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (Bureau of Indian Affairs & Department of the Interior, 2016), and 3) early versions of foster care, including orphanages, largely served destitute children, with little emphasis on their safety. Currently, Native American and Black children have higher rates of involvement with the child welfare system, including foster care placement, than White, Asian, and Hispanic children (Yi, Edwards, & Wildeman, 2020) and a majority are socially and economically disadvantaged (Dolan, Smith, Casanueva, & Ringeisen, 2011). Though disparities remain, rates of entry and length of stay in foster care have declined precipitously among Black children, both overall and relative to White children (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2006, 2019).…”

The Scope, Nature, and Causes of Child Abuse and Neglect

“…A decline in annual incidence of maltreatment coupled with no change in prevalence of victims or perpetrators may suggest effective interventions (success in reducing revictimization and reoffending) rather than effective prevention. Available data suggest slight declines in prevalence of substantiated maltreatment between 2004 and 2009, and little change between 2009 and 2016 (Wildeman et al 2014; Yi, Edwards, and Wildeman 2020). Again, however, declines in the prevalence of substantiated maltreatment may reflect, in full or in part, changes to child welfare system policy and practice.…”