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Contact Information

Phone: (919)733-4564
Fax: (919)733-4625

Anne Mayher
(Community Development)

Priority D

 Improve system's response to child abuse and neglect

Research:

• North Carolina is in the second highest bracket in the US for maltreatment rates - 19.1 victims per 1000 children - 36,976 out of 1,940,947 children.

• Nationally, 11.8 children out of 1000 children were maltreated. An estimated 826,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect.

• Children who had been victimized prior to 1999 were almost 3 times more likely to experience recurrence during the 6 months following their first victimization than children without a prior history of victimization.

• The maltreatment fatality rate in North Carolina is 1.08 out of 100,000 children - 21 out of 1,940, 947. No child fatalities occurred in families who had received family preservation treatment in the 5 years prior to the fatality.

• The national maltreatment fatality rate is 1.66 out of 100,000 children (US Department of Health and Human Services,1999).

• Nationally, in 2001, 12.4 children out of 1,000 were maltreated.  An
  estimated 903,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect.  During 2001,
  57.2% of victims suffered neglect (US Dept of Health & Human Services, 2003,
  Child Maltreatment-2001).

• For calendar year 2001, abuse/neglect was substantiated for 36,601
  children in North Carolina, an estimated rate of 18.4 per 1,000 children.
  Ninety percent (90%) of those children were substantiated for neglect (US
  Dept of Health & Human Services, 2003, Child Maltreatment-2001).

• In FY 2002, North Carolina Division of Social Services investigated
  reports of child abuse and neglect for 107,218 children, an increase of 6.5%
  from FY 2000.  Of those reports, abuse and neglect was substantiated for
  32,883 children, which was an increase of 3.3% from FY 2000 (NC Division of
  Social Services, 2003, Unduplicated Counts of Children Subject of an
  Investigative Assessment, available online at www.dhhs.state.nc.us/dss/childrensservices/stats/programstatistics.htm)

• Children who had been victimized in a prior year were more than twice as
  likely to experience recurrence compared to children without a prior history
  of victimization (US Dept of Health & Human Services, 2003, Child
  Maltreatment-2001).

• Twenty-four NC children in calendar year 2001 died at the hands of their
  caretakers.  The maltreatment fatality rate in North Carolina is 1.21 out of
  100,000 children.  The national maltreatment fatality rate is 1.81 out of
  100,000 children (US Dept of Health & Human Services, 2003, Child
  Maltreatment-2001).

• An initial study of the Child Advocacy Center model of reduced victim
  interviews, multi-disciplinary collaborations, and child-friendly facilities
  indicates more effective investigations, child less likely to suffer
  repeated abuse, reduced stress to child victim, and increased perpetrator
  confessions and convictions (Crimes Against Children Research Center,
  University of New Hampshire, National Evaluation of Children’s Advocacy
  Centers, available online at www.unh.edu/ccrc/projects/national_evaluation.htm).
  

Program Examples:

• Child Advocacy Centers

• Guardian ad Litem program

• State/Regional training and conferences

• Forensic interviews