National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) was amended in 1988 (P.L. 100–294) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services HHS to establish a national data collection and analysis program, which would make available state child abuse and neglect reporting information. HHS responded by establishing the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) NCANDS as a voluntary national reporting system. During 1996, CAPTA was amended (42 U.S.C. 5106a(d)) to require all states that receive funds from the Basic State Grant program to work with the Secretary of HHS to provide specific data elements, to the maximum extent practicable, about children who had been maltreated. Most of the required data elements were added to the NCANDS data collection. Subsequent CAPTA reauthorizations and amendments added required data elements. The Children’s Bureau proposes to continue to collect NCANDS data using two files of the Detailed Case Data Component (DCDC): (1) Child File, the case-level component of NCANDS and (2) Agency File, the aggregate data component. The current approval of the DCDC expires on February 2830, 202118. The Children’s Bureau is seeking re-approval of these instruments with no changes to this data collection.

The latest form for National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) expires 2023-08-31 and can be found here.