RFF - child maltreatment during COVID-19

One-fifth of all calls to child protection hotlines are made by education personnel, but only 11% are substantiated as child maltreatment. (This substantiation rate is similar for child care providers and mental health personnel, but lower than law enforcement and medical personnel.) When compared to other mandated reporters, reporting by educators was least consistent over time. The low substantiation rate suggests families may benefit from supports other than intervention from the child protection agency, and educators need diverse and appropriate alternatives for connecting families to those supports.

Adopting the most generous and inclusive approach in all four policy areas has the potential to reduce child poverty from 17.2% to 14.2% in high poverty states, 11.3% to 9.5% in medium poverty states, and 8.6% to 7.1% in low poverty states.

Reports were divided into two categories, those made for “neglect only” and “all others,” which included reports of abuse and neglect. An increase in unemployment rates were positively and significantly associated with the rate of “all other” reports but not “neglect only,” suggesting that additional community-based supports might be needed to address the concrete needs of families.

Patterns in reporting and substantiation

Economic trends and the impact on child maltreatment