Methodology
Child Maltreatment Allegations/Child Count

Notes on Source Data

IMPORTANT NOTE: The following methodology may include references to report features not available on the public site version. On the public site, masking is performed to protect the privacy of individuals served by CDSS and comply with CDSS data de-identification guidelines. Values of 1 to 10 and calculations based on values of 1 to 10 are masked ('M' or '*'). In stratified views of the data, additional values (the lowest available) are masked to prevent calculation of values 1 to 10.

These reports count each child receiving a child maltreatment allegation once for each analysis year. If a child has more than one allegation in a given year, they are counted in the cell considered to represent the most severe occurrence. In order to determine the appropriate cell, children are grouped in a two-step process:

1. Disposition Outcomes: Children with substantiated reports are counted first, followed by those with inconclusive reports, unfounded reports, children who had allegations but did not have a disposition (called assessment only/evaluated out), and finally, children for whom a disposition had not yet been determined (called not yet determined).
2. Allegation Type: Children are then grouped according to the allegation type severity hierarchy established by CWS/CMS (see additional details in the “Allegation Type” link provided below).

This differs from other allegation reports and for this reason the reports are not directly comparable. Allegation Report Differences for details.

In the county-level tables, we have again counted each child once per year, but for each county in which a referral was made. Thus, a child who has received referrals in multiple counties will appear in the table of each county where referred. As a result, the sum of the children across county tables may not equal the total in the statewide tables.

County is assigned in this analysis using the county specific code from the assignment table corresponding with the allegation received date during the specified time period. Age in this analysis is based on the first allegation received date during the specified time period.

Cells containing a period (".") represent a value of zero. In cells representing quotients, a period may also indicate the indeterminate form 0/0.

These reports can also be run with filters in place to restrict the data to various subgroups of other variables (e.g., Black subgroup of the Ethnicity variable, <1 year old subgroup of the Age variable, etc.). Please see the links below for details:

Age Group

Ethnic Group

Census-based Ethnicity Coding

Sex at Birth

Allegation Type

Disposition Type

Reporter Type

Investigation