National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), Detailed Case Data Component (DCDC)

Investigator(s): Children's Bureau, Department of Health and Human Services
Abstract: The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) is a voluntary national data collection and analysis system created in response to the requirements of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (Public Law 93-247) as amended. The NCANDS consists of two components. The Summary Data Component (SDC) is a compilation of key aggregate child abuse and neglect statistics from all states, including data on reports, investigations, victims, and perpetrators. The Detailed Case Data Component (DCDC) is a compilation of case-level information from those child protective services agencies able to provide electronic child abuse and neglect records.
  The NCANDS DCDC consists of two data files from each participating state. One of the two state files contains 14 variables and includes characteristics of all children included in a report of alleged maltreatment. Characteristics of the report such as the source and disposition are also included in this file. The second file contains 62 variables. Only children identified as victims are included. A child is classified as a victim and included in this file if maltreatment is substantiated or indicated. In addition to basic information concerning the report and the child, this child victims file also contains information about the type of maltreatment, the support services provided to the family, and any special problems that were identified for the child, caretaker, or family. Neither of the files contains data on the alleged perpetrators, and reports of child fatalities have also been excluded from both files.
  While data from the states participating in the NCANDS DCDC do not constitute a statistically representative sample of maltreated children in the United States, they show distributions similar to those found in studies using national data. Furthermore, they provide an important opportunity to answer many questions regarding child maltreatment cases that are known to child protective services.
    The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information Web site maintains an NCANDS Fact Sheet with a description of the system and links to related resources.
Download Multi-Year User's Guide (Data Codebook): PDF

Dataset Number	NCANDS Year	Download Supplement
90	1999	PDF
89	1998	PDF

**Note: Restricted Data: Special NCANDS Terms of Use Agreement required when ordering**

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