The purpose of the child maltreatment uniform definitions and recommended data elements is to present a definition of child maltreatment, its associated terms, and recommended data elements for voluntary use by individuals and organizations in the public health community. The definitions and data elements are intended to promote and improve consistency of child maltreatment surveillance for public health practices. It is designed to be used by state and local health department staff to assist in and provide a framework for the collection of public health surveillance data on child maltreatment. The definitions included in the document draw upon definitions that are currently in use in the literature and were adapted in collaboration with a panel of experts on child maltreatment and public health surveillance. The definitions and data elements are designed be flexible tools for developing an ongoing surveillance system. Agencies that use the document can modify data elements to fit their system. This document is the third in a series of Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements which includes: Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements and Sexual Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements.

The purpose of this document is to guide surveillance of key factors associated with the incidence & prevalence of child maltreatment. The document proposes a framework that identifies key surveillance factors at each level of population health (individual, family, community, & social). These factors are described & organized within a conceptual framework based on a population health perspective. An analysis of this framework is presented in relation to the importance of surveillance in child maltreatment, resulting in recommended priorities & partnerships for collecting data at various levels. Part 1 presents the conceptual framework and part 2 the epidemiological framework. Part 2 includes sections on the characteristics of surveillance systems & some examples, data collection issues, functional & operational issues, other issues, and methodological issues.

Child maltreatment is a considerable social and public health problem in the United States. In 2004, data collected from Child Protective Services (CPS) determined approximately 900,000 children in the United States were victims of child maltreatment and about 1,500 children died because of abuse or neglect (US DHHS, 2006). Unfortunately, these numbers likely underestimate the number of children affected by maltreatment due to underreporting and focus on a single data source.

The purpose of the child maltreatment uniform definitions and recommended data elements is to present a definition of child maltreatment, its associated terms, and recommended data elements for voluntary use by individuals and organizations in the public health community. The definitions and data elements are intended to promote and improve consistency of child maltreatment surveillance for public health practices. It is designed to be used by state and local health department staff to assist in and provide a framework for the collection of public health surveillance data on child maltreatment. The definitions included in the document draw upon definitions that are currently in use in the literature and were adapted in collaboration with a panel of experts on child maltreatment and public health surveillance. The definitions and data elements are designed be flexible tools for developing an ongoing surveillance system. Agencies that use the document can modify data elements to fit their system. This document is the third in a series of Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements which includes: Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements and Sexual Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements.

This technical package represents a select group of strategies based on the best available evidence to help prevent child abuse and neglect. These strategies include strengthening economic supports to families; changing social norms to support parents and positive parenting; providing quality care and education early in life; enhancing parenting skills to promote healthy child development; and intervening to lessen harms and prevent future risk. The strategies represented in this package include those with a focus on preventing child abuse and neglect from happening in the first place as well as approaches to lessen the immediate and long-term harms of child abuse and neglect ... This package supports CDC's 'Essentials for Childhood' framework for preventing child abuse and neglect. In particular, it articulates a select set of strategies and specific approaches that can create the context for healthy children and families and prevent child abuse and neglect (Goals 3 and 4 of the framework ..."--Page 7.

Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves-they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains-including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems-and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response.

First Published in 2009. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.