National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Combined
Aggregate File, 2000-2002
Dataset Number: 102
Investigator(s): Children's Bureau, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services
Abstract: The National Child Abuse and Neglect
Data System (NCANDS) Combined Aggregate File (CAF) dataset consists
of State-specific data of all investigated reports of maltreatment
to State child protective service agencies. The NCANDS is a
federally-sponsored national data collection effort created for the
purpose of tracking the volume and nature of child maltreatment
reporting each year within the United States. The CAF is the
State-level component of the NCANDS that replaced the Summary Data
Component (SDC) beginning in the year 2000. The CAF is created by
merging three different NCANDS data sources, the Child File, the
Agency File, and the SDC, into a single dataset. NCANDS Case-level
data are collected through the Child File data submission. States
that submit a Child File also submit an Agency File, which collects
State-level data for areas not covered in the Child File, such items
as preventive services and screened-out referrals. Other States
continued to submit NCANDS data using the SDC survey. Child File
data are aggregated to the State-level by key variables and then
combined with the data from the Agency file and the SDC to create
the CAF. The number of children and families receiving preventive
services, the number of reports and investigations of child abuse
and neglect, the number of children who were the subjects of reports
of abuse or neglect, the number of child victims of maltreatment,
the number of child fatalities, the size of the State's CPS
workforce, and other statistics are provided in the CAF. Data for
from 2000 to 2002 are provided in a single data file. A variable
crosswalk to the 1990-1999 SDC dataset is also provided.
List of NCANDS Publications:
NCANDS Publications
NCANDS 2000-2002 Map of CAF Variables to Survey Items:
PDF
Annual Child Maltreatment Reports:
Children's Bureau
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