Child abuse and neglect is a significant social concern. Children who experience abuse or neglect are more likely to have developmental delays and impaired language or cognitive skills; be identified as "problem" children (with attention difficulties or challenging behaviors); be arrested for delinquency, adult criminality, and violent criminal behavior; experience depression, anxiety, or other mental health problems as adults; engage in more health-risk behaviors as adults; and have poorer health outcomes as adults. Between 1963 and 1967, every state and the District of Columbia enacted some form of child abuse and neglect reporting law to permit individuals to refer cases of suspected child abuse or neglect to a public agency. The rapid adoption of these laws was aided by a model reporting law disseminated by the Children's Bureau, which is housed within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In 1974, Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA, P.L. 93-247 ) and state reporting laws were modified to conform to the standards it established. In creating CAPTA, Congress sought to increase understanding of child abuse and neglect and improve the response to its occurrence by establishing a single federal focal point on the issue. Since its enactment 35 years ago, the law has been reauthorized and amended numerous times, most recently by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 ( P.L. 108-36 ). Currently, CAPTA authorizes: State Grants : Formula grants to states and territories to help improve their child protective service (CPS) systems, in exchange for which states must comply with various requirements related to the reporting, investigation, and treatment of child maltreatment cases. The FY2009 appropriation was $26.5 million. Discretionary Activities : Federal data collection, dissemination, and technical assistance efforts related to child abuse prevention and treatment, as well as competitive grants to a range of eligible entities for research and demonstration projects or other activities related to the identification, prevention, and treatment of child abuse or neglect. The FY2009 appropriation was $41.8 million (including a $13.5 million set-aside for the ACF home visitation initiative, $500,000 for a feasibility study related to a national child abuse and neglect offender registry, and $2.4 million for other congressional projects designated in the Explanatory Statement accompanying the FY2009 appropriations bill). Community-Based Grants: Formula grants to each state and territory for support of community-based activities and services to prevent child abuse and neglect. The FY2009 appropriation was $41.7 million. Children's Justice Act Grants: Formula grants to states and territories to improve investigation, prosecution, and handling of child maltreatment cases, particularly those cases related to child sexual abuse or exploitation. For FY2009, $20 million was provided out of the federal Crime Victims Fund, including a $3 million set-aside for tribes. Funding authorization for most grants or activities authorized under CAPTA expired with FY2008. However, as shown above, the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 ( P.L. 111-8 ) provided roughly $110 million out of the general treasury for CAPTA grants and activities in FY2009. In addition, as required by the Victims of Crime Act ( P.L. 93-247 , as amended), $20 million was set aside from the Crime Victims Fund for grants to improve the investigation, prosecution, and handling of child abuse and neglect cases (commonly referred to as "Children's Justice Act grants"). FY2010 appropriations legislation ( H.R. 3293 ) pending in Congress would provide roughly the same CAPTA funding for FY2010 and, again, an additional $20 million is expected to be available from the Crime Victims Fund. Children depend on adults to meet their physical needs, foster their social and emotional development, and, in so doing, nurture their growth into adulthood. For most children, their parents are both capable and committed to providing this necessary care and support. For some, however, this is not true. Any person who knows or suspects that a child is being abused or neglected may contact child protective services (CPS) with this information. Local CPS agencies are called on to screen these referrals, investigate or assess the allegations as warranted, and identify children in need of additional services. In carrying out this job, CPS workers must discern the difference between children whose home situations are safe, those whose homes may be made safe if additional supports and services are provided, and those for whom removal—even if temporary—is necessary for the children's protection. This first part of this report includes a discussion of definitions of child abuse and neglect and a description of how CPS agencies receive and respond to allegations of child abuse and neglect. Tasks done by CPS workers are described, including the manner in which children are ultimately counted as "victims" or "non-victims" of child abuse or neglect. It continues with a look at certain demographic characteristics of children found to be victims and a brief description of services provided to children and their families following a child abuse or neglect investigation. Finally, this part of the report concludes with a short review of some risk factors for poor child outcomes that are seen disproportionately in children whose families are investigated for abuse or neglect, and lists some circumstances prevalent among the families or caregivers of these children that may also put these children at risk for poor outcomes. CPS agencies are sometimes referred to as the "front-end" of the child welfare services continuum. The number of children and families who come to the attention of CPS each year is far greater than the number of children found to be victims of child abuse or neglect and the even smaller number of children who are placed in foster care. Figure 1 shows the scope of children and families who come in contact with the CPS/child welfare agency. Child abuse and neglect is defined in CAPTA as "at a minimum, any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm." States that receive state grant funds under CAPTA must define "child abuse and neglect" to be consistent with this federal definition. All states receive CAPTA state grant funds and many states have developed more detailed definitions of child abuse and neglect, which is sometimes referred to as child maltreatment. Typically, these definitions elaborate on the meaning of different types of maltreatment, including (1) physical abuse, generally involving non-accidental physical injury to the child and, in some states, substantial threat of injury; (2) neglect, including failure to provide necessary food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision and, typically, for reasons other than economic inability to do so; (3) sexual abuse/exploitation; and (4) emotional abuse or mental injury. Some states also incorporate specific language defining other forms of abuse and neglect, including, for example, abandonment, or harming or exposing a child to harm because of substance abuse or the manufacture of a controlled substance. Consistent with the federal definition in CAPTA, many state child abuse and neglect definitions also specify that a finding of child abuse or neglect may only occur if the perpetrator of the maltreatment is a parent or caregiver of the child. In FY2007, 80% of the perpetrators in substantiated abuse or neglect cases were one or both of the child's parents, 5% were other relatives of the child, and 3% were the unmarried partner of the parent. Other types of non-parent caregivers (e.g., foster parents, residential facility staff, and legal guardians) typically represented less than one-half of 1%, each, of the perpetrators of child abuse or neglect. States are required under the CAPTA state grant program to have a statewide law or program in effect that includes procedures for receiving and screening referrals of known or suspected child abuse and neglect, and procedures for investigating them as appropriate. In FY2007, child protective services agencies received 3.2 million allegations of abuse or neglect concerning an estimated 5.8 million children. More than one-third of the allegations (38%) were "screened out" and no investigation followed. However, investigations or assessments were conducted with regard to the majority of allegations received (62%), involving some 3.5 million children. Of these children, an estimated 794,000 were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect—or roughly 11 children per 1,000 children in the population. (For data on the number of referrals, investigations, and victims of child abuse by state, see Appendix A .) Any person can make a child abuse and neglect allegation to CPS. Most states require certain individuals (e.g., health personnel, teachers, police officers, lawyers, and workers at social service agencies) to report any instance of known or suspected child abuse or neglect. Individuals may make reports of abuse or neglect to local law enforcement or a local CPS agency, and states typically operate a 24-hour hotline to receive this information as well. Under the CAPTA state grant program, states must have procedures for cross-agency cooperation and states have policies (often in statute) regarding how information is to be shared across these entities. States or localities also develop their own rules for when an allegation of child abuse or neglect will be "screened out." For example, these might include—when the allegation received does not meet the state's definition of child abuse or neglect or does not include enough information to permit an investigation or assessment to occur; when the children in the referral were determined to be the responsibility of another agency or jurisdiction (e.g., a military installation or a tribe); or when the alleged victim was older than 18.