Longitudinal changes in child maltreatment reports.

The U.S. annual rate of child maltreatment reports has increased from 38.9 per 1,000 children in 2007 to 47.8 per 1,000 children in 2018 (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012, 2020). Using national administrative child welfare data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, the present study examined longitudinal trends in child maltreatment reports over the years 2007–2018. Specifically, the following research questions were examined: (a) Do upward trends in child maltreatment reports differ by the source of the report (i.e., professional or nonprofessional sources) and between urban and rural areas?; (b) Do increasing numbers of child maltreatment reports represent reports with a low risk of recidivism (i.e., re-reporting)?; and (c) Do longitudinal trends of Child Protective Services (CPS) responses to investigated reports differ by the source of the report and between urban and rural areas? We found that increases in maltreatment reports were primarily driven by increases in reports from professional sources and that report rates increased across rural and urban areas alike. However, the increases were more significant in rural and small urban areas compared to large urban areas. We did not find evidence that the increasing numbers of reports were due to an increase in reports with low recidivism risk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) In the United States, child maltreatment reports have considerably increased since 2007. Our findings indicate that this trend is primarily driven by the increasing numbers of reports from professionals, such as education, legal/law enforcement, social services, mental health, and medical professionals and that this trend is somewhat stronger in rural areas. We find no evidence that this trend is mainly due to an increase in reports with low recidivism risk, suggesting needs for more efforts to prevent both onset and recurrence of maltreatment reporting. Comprehensive maltreatment prevention strategies in across the United States—including rural areas are needed. The Families First Prevention Services Act provides a key opportunity for implementing such efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)