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) 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 (CB) collects 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 OMB expiration data for the DCDC is August 31, 2023. Through this request, CB is seeking an extension with no changes to this data collection.

The latest form for National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) expires 2026-07-31 and can be found here.

Detailed Case Data Component (Child File and Agency File) - IT Staff

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Community and Social Services - Social Services