Young Kids are a Large Portion of Maltreated Children in United States

Posted July 30, 2014
By the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Blog youngkidslargeportionofmaltreated3 2014

In 2012, approx­i­mate­ly 604,000 chil­dren expe­ri­enced con­firmed mal­treat­ment (nine per 1,000 kids), accord­ing to the lat­est data from the Nation­al Child Abuse and Neglect Data Sys­tem. Forty per­cent of these chil­dren were younger than age 5, and 73% were younger than 11. While the over­all pop­u­la­tion of chil­dren ages 0 to 4 remained con­stant, this group’s rep­re­sen­ta­tion among mal­treat­ed chil­dren rose by 11% between 2004 and 2012

As ear­ly expe­ri­ences play a piv­otal role in children’s phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al devel­op­ment, the trend is trou­bling. Look­ing state by state, the high­est mal­treat­ment rates were in Ari­zona, where 48% of chil­dren younger than age 5 were mal­treat­ed, fol­lowed close­ly by Okla­homa, Neva­da and Texas (47%).

To learn more, vis­it the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter, where new child mal­treat­ment data is avail­able for the nation, states and the Dis­trict of Columbia:

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