This is the 6th edition of this report, originally commissioned by Prevent Child Abuse America. This paper is distributed to help ensure that data published in the annual Child Maltreatment series is interpreted and applied considering all aspects of its reliability and validity. The annual release of the federal Child Maltreatment reports provides an opportunity for advocates to highlight issues within the Child Protective Services systems including wide variations among states in definitions, policy and practice; millions of screened out cases; the relative costs of prevention; the overwhelming presence of child neglect in the system, and other timely issues. This paper contains information that useful for state-level messaging and advocacy.
