How to Report Suspected Child Maltreatment
Anyone can report suspected child abuse or neglect. Reporting abuse or neglect can protect a child and get help for a family — it may even save a child's life.
The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information is not a hotline for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect and it is not equipped to accept reports of this nature. The Clearinghouse is not equipped to offer crisis counseling. As a service of the Children's Bureau in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Clearinghouse does not have the authority to intervene or advise in personal situations.
Childhelp USA® is a national organization that provides crisis assistance and other counseling and referral services. The Childhelp USA® National Child Abuse Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with professional crisis counselors who have access to a database of 55,000 emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous. Contact them at 1-800-4-A-CHILD. (1-800-422-4453)
If you need help with personal or family situations, you may wish to visit our resources on Where to Find Help.
If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected or if you are a child who is being maltreated, contact your local child protective services office or law enforcement agency, so professionals can assess the situation. Many States have a toll-free number to call to report suspected child abuse or neglect. To find out where to call, consult the Clearinghouse publication, Child Abuse Reporting Numbers.
TYPES OF ABUSE & ABUSERS
In 2003, 48.3 percent of child victims were male; 51.7 percent of victims were female. 83.9 percent of victims were abused by a parent. 40.8% of child victims were maltreated by their mothers acting alone; another 18.8 percent were maltreated by their fathers acting alone; 16.9 percent were abused by both parents.1
Types of maltreatment included:
Neglect (including medical neglect) 61%
Physical Abuse 19%
Sexual Abuse 10%
Psychological Maltreatment 5%
Medical Maltreatment 2%
Other* 17%
*Includes abandonment and congenital drug addiction figures reported by some states.
NOTE: Percentages total more than 100% because children may have been victims of more than one type of abuse.
REPORTING OF ABUSE
More than 2.9 million reports of possible maltreatment involving children were made to child protective service agencies in calendar year 2003.1
The actual incidence of abuse and neglect is estimated to be three times greater than the number reported to authorities.
Child abuse is reported-on average-every 10 seconds.
Based on approximately 2.9 million reports per year.
An estimated 906,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in 2003 (cases substantiated by child protective service agencies).1
Nine in 10 Americans polled regard child abuse as a serious problem, yet only 1 in 3 reported abuse when confronted with an actual situation.
POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF ABUSE
Men and women serving time in the nation's prisons and jails report a higher incidence of abuse as children than the general population.
More than a third of women in the nation's prisons and jails reported abuse as children, compared with 12% to 17% for women in the general population. About 14% of male inmates reported abuse as children, compared with 5% to 8% of men in the general population.
Research has found that repeated sexual abuse affects the function of a key brain region related to substance abuse.
Damage to the cerebellar vermis may cause an individual to be particularly irritable and to seek external means (e.g., drugs or alcohol) to quell the irritability. While researchers have long known that a history of child abuse increases the risk for substance abuse in adults, a clear developmental mechanism by which this phenomenon occurs has been unclear until now.
FATALITIES
Each day in the United States, more than 4 children die as a result of child abuse in the home.
In 2003, an estimated 1,500 children died of abuse and neglect-an average of more than 4 children per day. (Victims known to child protective services agencies, which track abuse and neglect in the home.)
More than three-quarters (78.7 percent) of the children who die are younger than four years of age.
Of these fatalities, 89 percent were under the age of eight; 43.6 percent of the children were under the age of one.
INFANT HOMICIDE
The rate of infant homicide reached a 30-year high in 2000.
The rate more than doubled from 4.3 homicides per 100,000 children under age one in 1970 to 9.1 per 100,000 children under age one in 2000. This trend occurred during a period in which there was an overall decrease in infant mortality from all sources.
Research studies of infant death data drawn from multiple agency records (e.g., police or social service records) indicate that the actual rate of infant deaths attributable to substantial abuse or neglect of infants and children up to four years of age is more than twice as high as the official rates reported in death certificate data.
Homicide is the leading cause of injury deaths among infants (under one year of age) in the United States.
Overall, it is the 15th leading cause of infant mortality from all causes. Homicide risk is greater in the first year of life than in any other year of childhood before age 17. Perpetrators are typically the mother, father or stepfather.
Infants are most likely to be killed by their mother during the first week of life but are more likely to be killed by a male (usually their father or stepfather) thereafter.
FATALITIES
Each day in the United States, more than 4 children die as a result of child abuse in the home.1
In 2003, an estimated 1,500 children died of abuse and neglect-an average of more than 4 children per day. (Victims known to child protective services agencies, which track abuse and neglect in the home.)1
More than three-quarters (78.7 percent) of the children who die are younger than four years of age.1
Of these fatalities, 89 percent were under the age of eight; 43.6 percent of the children were under the age of one.1
SEXUAL ASSAULT OF CHILDREN
Convicted rape and sexual assault offenders serving time in state prisons report that two-thirds of their victims were under the age of 18.
One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were under age six.
Among rape victims less than 12 years of age, 90% of the children knew the offender, according to police-recorded incident data.
Frequently, the person who sexually molests a child is also a child.
40% of the offenders who sexually assaulted children under age 6 were juveniles (under the age of 18).
INFLUENCE OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Nearly one-half of substantiated cases of child neglect and abuse are associated with parental alcohol or drug abuse.
It is estimated that one in every four children in the United States (28 million) are living in a household with an alcoholic adult.
