U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Administration for Children and Families

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Children’s Bureau

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Children’s Bureau/ACYF

1250 Maryland Avenue, SW

Eighth Floor

Washington, DC 20024

800.394.3366

Email: info@childwelfare.gov

www.childwelfare.gov

FACTSHEET 

FOR FAMILIES

May 2011

Disponible en español

www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/

factsheets/spcpswork.cfm

How the Child Welfare 

System Works

What’s Inside:

• What happens when possible abuse or 

neglect is reported?

• What happens after a report is “screened 

in”?

• What happens in substantiated 

(founded) cases?

• What happens to people who abuse or 

neglect children?

• What happens to children who enter 

foster care?

• Resources

The child welfare system is a group of services 

designed to promote the well-being of children 

by ensuring safety, achieving permanency, and 

strengthening families to care for their children 

successfully. While the primary responsibility 

for child welfare services rests with the States, 

the Federal Government plays a major role in 

supporting States in the delivery of services 

through funding of programs and legislative 

initiatives. 
How the Child Welfare System Works www.childwelfare.gov

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Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/cpswork.cfm

The primary responsibility for implementing 

Federal child and family legislative 

mandates rests with the Children’s Bureau, 

within the Administration on Children, 

Youth and Families, Administration for 

Children and Families, U.S. Department 

of Health and Human Services (HHS). The 

Children’s Bureau works with State and local 

agencies to develop programs that focus on 

preventing the abuse of children in troubled 

families, protecting children from abuse, 

and finding permanent families for children 

who cannot safely return to their parents. 

For more information, see How Federal 

Legislation Impacts Child Welfare Service 

Delivery on the Child Welfare Information 

Gateway website: 

www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/impacts/index.

cfm

Most families first become involved with 

their local child welfare system because of 

a report of suspected child abuse or neglect 

(sometimes called “child maltreatment”). 

Child maltreatment is defined by CAPTA as 

serious harm (neglect, physical abuse, sexual 

abuse, and emotional abuse or neglect) 

caused to children by parents or primary 

caregivers, such as extended family members 

or babysitters.1 Child maltreatment also 

can include harm that a caregiver allows to 

happen or does not prevent from happening 

to a child. In general, child welfare 

agencies do not intervene in cases of harm 

to children caused by acquaintances or 

1 Each State has its own laws that define abuse and neglect 

for purposes of stating the reporting obligations of individuals 

and describing required State and local child protective services 

agency interventions. For State-by-State information about civil 

laws related to child abuse and neglect, visit the Information 

Gateway website at www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/

laws_policies/state

strangers. These cases are the responsibility 

of law enforcement.2

The Child Abuse Prevention and 

Treatment Act (CAPTA), originally 

passed in 1974, brought national 

attention to the need to protect 

vulnerable children in the United 

States. CAPTA provides Federal funding 

to States in support of prevention, 

assessment, investigation, prosecution, 

and treatment activities as well as 

grants to public agencies and nonprofit 

organizations for demonstration 

programs and projects. Additionally, 

CAPTA identifies the Federal role 

in supporting research, evaluation, 

technical assistance, and data collection 

activities. CAPTA also sets forth a 

minimum definition of child abuse and 

neglect. Since it was signed into law, 

CAPTA has been amended several times. 

It was most recently amended and 

reauthorized on December 20, 2010, 

by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 

2010 (P.L. 111-320). To see the 2010 

amendment to CAPTA, visit: 

www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS111s3817enr/pdf/BILLS-111s3817enr.

pdf

THE CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION 

AND TREATMENT ACT 

2 While some States authorize child protective services 

agencies to respond to all reports of alleged child maltreatment, 

other States authorize law enforcement to respond to certain 

types of maltreatment, such as sexual or physical abuse.
How the Child Welfare System Works www.childwelfare.gov

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Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/cpswork.cfm

The child welfare system is not a single 

entity. Many organizations in each 

community work together to strengthen 

families and keep children safe. Public 

agencies, such as departments of social 

services or child and family services, often 

contract and collaborate with private child 

welfare agencies and community-based 

organizations to provide services to families, 

such as in-home family preservation 

services, foster care, residential treatment, 

mental health care, substance abuse 

treatment, parenting skills classes, domestic 

violence services, employment assistance, 

and financial or housing assistance. 

Child welfare systems are complex, and their 

specific procedures vary widely by State. The 

purpose of this factsheet is to give a brief 

overview of the purposes and functions of 

child welfare from a national perspective. 

Child welfare systems typically:

• Receive and investigate reports of possible 

child abuse and neglect

• Provide services to families that need 

assistance in the protection and care of 

their children

• Arrange for children to live with kin or 

with foster families when they are not 

safe at home

• Arrange for reunification, adoption, or 

other permanent family connections for 

children leaving foster care

Appendix A provides a graphic overview 

of the process described in the following 

sections.

What happens when 

possible abuse or 

neglect is reported?

Any concerned person can report suspicions 

of child abuse or neglect. Most reports are 

made by “mandatory reporters”—people 

who are required by State law to report 

suspicions of child abuse and neglect.3 As 

of April 2010, statutes in approximately 

18 States and Puerto Rico require any 

person who suspects child abuse or neglect 

to report it.4 These reports are generally 

received by child protective services (CPS) 

workers and are either “screened in” or 

“screened out.” A report is screened in when 

there is sufficient information to suggest 

an investigation is warranted. A report 

may be screened out if there is not enough 

information on which to follow up or if the 

situation reported does not meet the State’s 

legal definition of abuse or neglect.5 In 

these instances, the worker may refer the 

person reporting the incident to other 

community services or law enforcement for 

additional help.

3 See Information Gateway’s Mandatory Reporters of Child 

Abuse and Neglect (www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_

policies/statutes/manda.cfm) and Making and Screening Reports 

of Child Abuse and Neglect (www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/

laws_policies/statutes/repproc.cfm).

4 The word approximately is used to stress the fact that States 

frequently amend their laws.

5 See Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect (www.

childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/define.cfm), 

available from Information Gateway. 
How the Child Welfare System Works www.childwelfare.gov

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Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/cpswork.cfm

During Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2009, an 

estimated 3.3 million referrals, which 

included approximately 6 million 

children, were made to CPS agencies. 

Approximately two-thirds (61.9 percent) 

of the reports were screened in for 

further investigation, and one-third 

(38.1 percent) were screened out (HHS, 

2010b). 

CPS workers, often called investigators, 

respond within a particular time period, 

which may be anywhere from a few hours 

to a few days, depending on the type 

of maltreatment alleged, the potential 

severity of the situation, and requirements 

under State law. They may speak with the 

parents and other people in contact with 

the child, such as doctors, teachers, or 

child care providers. They also may speak 

with the child, alone or in the presence of 

caregivers, depending on the child’s age 

and level of risk. Children who are believed 

to be in immediate danger may be moved 

to a shelter, foster care placement, or a 

relative’s home during the investigation 

and while court proceedings are pending. 

An investigator’s primary purpose is to 

determine whether the child is safe, whether 

abuse or neglect has occurred, and whether 

there is a risk of it occurring again. 

What happens after a 

report is “screened in”?

Some jurisdictions now employ an 

alternative, or differential, response system. 

In these jurisdictions, when risk to the 

children involved is considered to be low, 

the CPS caseworker may focus on assessing 

family strengths, resources, and difficulties 

and identifying supports and services 

needed, rather than on gathering evidence 

to confirm the occurrence of abuse or 

neglect.

At the end of an investigation, CPS 

workers typically make one of two 

findings—unsubstantiated (unfounded) or 

substantiated (founded). These terms vary 

from State to State. Typically, a finding of 

unsubstantiated means there is insufficient 

evidence for the worker to conclude that 

a child was abused or neglected, or what 

happened does not meet the legal definition 

of child abuse or neglect. A finding of 

substantiated typically means that an 

incident of child abuse or neglect, as defined 

by State law, is believed to have occurred. 

Some States have additional categories, such 

as “unable to determine,” that suggest there 

was not enough evidence to either confirm 

or refute that abuse or neglect occurred. 

The agency will initiate a court action if 

it determines that the authority of the 

juvenile court (through a child protection 

or dependency proceeding) is necessary to 

keep the child safe. To protect the child, 

the court can issue temporary orders 

placing the child in shelter care during the 

investigation, ordering services, or ordering 

certain individuals to have no contact with 

the child. At an adjudicatory hearing, the 

court hears evidence and decides whether 

maltreatment occurred and whether the 

child should be under the continuing 

jurisdiction of the court. The court then 
How the Child Welfare System Works

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www.childwelfare.gov

enters a disposition, either at that hearing 

or at a separate hearing, which may result in 

the court ordering a parent to comply with 

services necessary to alleviate the abuse or 

neglect. Orders can also contain provisions 

regarding visitation between the parent and 

the child, agency obligations to provide the 

parent with services, and services needed by 

the child. 

In FFY 2009, an estimated 702,000 

children were found to be victims of 

maltreatment (HHS, 2010b).6

6

What happens 

in substantiated 

(founded) cases?

If a child has been abused or neglected, the 

course of action depends on State policy, the 

severity of the maltreatment, an assessment 

of the child’s immediate safety, the risk 

of continued or future maltreatment, the 

services available to address the family’s 

needs, and whether the child was removed 

from the home and a court action to protect 

the child was initiated. The following 

general options are available:

•	 No or low risk—The family’s case 

may be closed with no services if the 

maltreatment was a one-time incident, 

6 This number refers to unique victims. The unique count of 

child victims counts a child only once, regardless of the number 

of times he or she was found to be victim during the reporting 

year. The duplicate count of child victims counts a child each 

time he or she was found to be a victim. The number of 

nationally estimated duplicate victims was 763,000 for FFY 2009.

the child is considered to be safe, there 

is no or low risk of future incidents, and 

any services the family needs will not 

be provided through the child welfare 

agency but through other communitybased resources and service systems.

•	 Low to moderate risk—Referrals may be 

made to community-based or voluntary 

in-home child welfare services if the 

CPS worker believes the family would 

benefit from these services and the child’s 

present and future safety would 

be enhanced. This may happen even 

when no abuse or neglect is found, if the 

family needs and is willing to participate 

in services.

•	 Moderate to high risk—The family 

may again be offered voluntary in-home 

services to address safety concerns and 

help reduce the risks. If these are refused, 

the agency may seek intervention by the 

juvenile dependency court. Once there 

is a judicial determination that abuse or 

neglect occurred, juvenile dependency 

court may require the family to cooperate 

with in-home services if it is believed 

that the child can remain safely at 

home while the family addresses the 

issues contributing to the risk of future 

maltreatment. If the child has been 

seriously harmed, is considered to be at 

high risk of serious harm, or the child’s 

safety is threatened, the court may order 

the child’s removal from the home or 

affirm the agency’s prior removal of the 

child. The child may be placed with a 

relative or in foster care.
How the Child Welfare System Works www.childwelfare.gov

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Nationally, it is estimated that 210,000 

children, including more than 123,000 

victims and almost 87,000 nonvictims 

(duplicate count), were removed from 

their homes in 2009 as a result of a 

child abuse investigation or assessment. 

People who are found to have abused or 

neglected a child are generally offered 

support and treatment services or are 

required by a juvenile dependency court 

to participate in services that will help 

keep their children safe. In more severe 

cases or fatalities, police are called on to 

investigate and may file charges in criminal 

court against the perpetrators of child 

maltreatment. In many States, certain types 

of abuse, such as sexual abuse and serious 

physical abuse, are routinely referred to law 

enforcement.

Whether or not criminal charges are filed, 

the perpetrator’s name may be placed on a 

State child maltreatment registry if abuse 

or neglect is confirmed. A registry is a 

central database that collects information 

about maltreated children and individuals 

who are found to have abused or neglected 

What happens to 

people who abuse or 

neglect children?

those children.7 These registries are usually 

confidential and used for internal child 

protective purposes only. However, they 

may be used in background checks for 

certain professions that involve working 

with children to protect children from 

contact with individuals who may mistreat 

them. 

Most children in foster care are placed with 

relatives or foster families, but some may 

be placed in group homes. While a child 

is in foster care, he or she attends school 

and should receive medical care and other 

services as needed. The child’s family also 

receives services to support their efforts to 

reduce the risk of future maltreatment and 

to help them, in most cases, be reunited 

with their child. Visits between parents 

and their children and between siblings 

are encouraged and supported, following a 

visitation plan.

Every child in foster care should have a 

permanency plan that includes the person 

with whom the child will live after leaving 

foster care and who will serve as the child’s 

primary emotional and family connection. 

Families typically participate in developing 

a permanency plan for the child and a 

service plan for the family. These plans 

guide the agency’s work. Except in unusual 

7 For more information about these databases, see 

Establishment and Maintenance of Central Registries for Child 

Abuse Reports (www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/

statutes/centreg.cfm), available from Information Gateway. 

What happens to 

children who enter 

foster care?
How the Child Welfare System Works

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Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/cpswork.cfm

www.childwelfare.gov

and extreme circumstances, every child’s 

plan is first focused on reunification with 

parents. If the efforts toward reunification 

are not successful, the plan may be changed 

to another permanent arrangement, such as 

adoption or transfer of custody to a relative.8

Whether or not they are adopted, older 

youth in foster care should receive support 

in developing some form of permanent 

family connection, in addition to 

transitional or Independent Living services 

to assist them in being self-sufficient when 

they leave foster care between the ages of 18 

and 21.

Federal law requires the court to hold a 

permanency hearing, which determines 

the permanent plan for the child, within 

12 months after the child enters foster 

care and every 12 months thereafter. Many 

courts review each case more frequently to 

ensure that the agency is actively pursuing 

permanency for the child. 

In FFY 2009, 140,061 children leaving 

foster care (51 percent) were returned to 

their parents or primary caregivers. The 

median length of stay in foster care for 

these children was 13.7 months. The 

average age of a child exiting foster care 

was 9.6 years old (HHS, 2010a). 

8 Under the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), while 

reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families are still 

required, State agencies are required to seek termination of the 

parent-child relationship when a child has been in foster care 

for 15 of the most recent 22 months. This requirement does not 

apply (at the State’s option) if a child is cared for by a relative, if 

the termination is not in the best interests of the child, or if the 

State has not provided adequate services for the family.

Summary

The goal of the child welfare system is to 

promote the safety, permanency, and wellbeing of children and families. Even among 

children who enter foster care, most will 

leave it to return safely to the care of their 

own families, or go to live with relatives or 

an adoptive family.

For more detailed information about the 

child welfare system, please refer to the 

resources listed below. For more information 

about the child welfare system in your State 

or local jurisdiction, contact your local 

public child welfare agency.

Badeau, S., & Gesiriech, S. (2003). A 

child’s journey through the child welfare 

system. Washington, DC: The Pew 

Commission on Children in Foster 

Care. Retrieved January 28, 2011, from 

http://pewfostercare.org/docs/index.

php?DocID=24

Child Welfare Information Gateway. 

(2004). About CAPTA: A legislative history.

Retrieved January 28, 2011, from www.

childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/about.

pdf (127 KB)

Goldman, J., & Salus, M. (2003). A 

coordinated response to child abuse and 

neglect: The foundation for practice (The 

User Manual Series). Washington, DC: 

References
How the Child Welfare System Works www.childwelfare.gov

8 This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit 

Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/cpswork.cfm

U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services. Retrieved January 28, 2011, from 

www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/

foundation/index.cfm

McCarthy, J., Marshall, A., Collins, J., 

Arganza, G., Deserly, K., & Milon, J. 

(2003). A family’s guide to the child welfare 

system. Washington, DC: National 

Technical Assistance Partnership for Child 

and Family Mental Health at Georgetown 

University Center for Child and Human 

Development. Retrieved January 28, 

2011, from http://gucchd.georgetown.

edu/72140.html

U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services. (2010a). The AFCARS report: 

Preliminary FY 2009 estimates as of July 

2010 (17). Retrieved January 28, 2011, 

from www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_

research/afcars/tar/report17.htm

U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services. (2010b). Child maltreatment 

2009. Retrieved January 28, 2011, from 

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/

cm09/index.htm

Suggested Citation

Child Welfare Information Gateway. 

(2011). How the child welfare system works. 

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services, Children’s 

Bureau.
How the Child Welfare System Works

9 This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit 

Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/cpswork.cfm

www.childwelfare.gov

Risk minimized. 

Case closed.

Professional or community member reports 

suspected abuse to CPS. Worker screens report.

Suspected child 

abuse or neglect.

Court petition 

may be filed.

Child stays with family. 

Services are provided to 

the child and family.

Situation does not meet the State’s 

definition of maltreatment, or 

too little information is supplied. 

Report is “screened out.” Caller 

may be referred elsewhere.

Child welfare or 

community-based 

services may be offered 

to address family needs.

No services are found 

to be appropriate. 

Family may be 

referred elsewhere.

Safety concerns exist 

and/or risk is significant. 

There are no safety 

concerns and risk is low. 

Safety concerns and 

risk are moderate.

CPS investigates. CPS may conduct a 

family assessment.

Report is “screened in.”

Reunification 

with family.

Custody to 

a relative.

Termination of parental rights 

and adoption or permanent 

legal guardianship.

Independent living 

with permanent 

family connections.

Child is placed in out-of-home care and services 

are provided to the child and family.

Case closed.

Family may be referred 

for voluntary services.

Child has been harmed 

and a risk of future 

abuse or ongoing safety 

concerns are present.

Evidence of 

abuse or neglect: 

“Substantiated” 

or “Founded.”

Low or no risk of 

future abuse found.

Insufficient evidence 

of abuse or neglect: 

“Unsubstantiated” 

or “Unfounded.”

Appendix A: The Child Welfare System