Jefferson County Data Dashboard

This data dashboard uses 2013 as the baseline timeframe because that is when the Face It Movement officially began its work. To see whether there has been a steady trend or fluctuating change in the data since the baseline timeframe, please click on the View Data buttons.

Reports Made to CPS

INTAKES THAT MET ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

We know that not all child maltreatment gets reported to authorities, and more children experience abuse or neglect than numbers reflect. National research indicates far more children experience maltreatment by age 18 than annual rates convey.

Intakes reflect all community contacts with DCBS regarding children that are suspected to have been maltreated, including phone call and web referrals made by various community partners such as law enforcement, teachers, and health care providers. Intakes meeting acceptance criteria meet the statutory and regulatory definitions of what constitutes abuse, neglect, or dependency where the alleged perpetrator is in a caretaking role. However, meeting acceptance criteria is not a confirmation that child abuse or neglect actually occurred.

Data source: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021.

Baseline Data

8,306

SFY2013

Latest Data

8,358

SFY2020

Change Since Baseline

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021.

Data by Race/Ethnicity

Data by Race/Ethnicity

Every adult in our community can play an active role in keeping children safe, and we know that reducing parental stress and supporting parents through challenging times can make a meaningful impact. Child maltreatment occurs across all racial and ethnic groups and all income levels, though more oversight from public agencies, and the compounded stressors of living in or near poverty, leave some populations more likely to be reported to child protective services (CPS). Children need their basic needs met (such as housing, food, and healthcare), and when parents experience challenges in meeting those needs, someone in the community may make a report with CPS out of concern for the child. Cultural differences in parenting and discipline, as well as implicit biases (i.e., unconscious attitudes and beliefs), may contribute to Black families being more likely to be referred to CPS than similarly situated White families. Black children are persistently overrepresented in reports to CPS (compared to their proportion of the overall child population), which contributes to their overrepresentation in deeper involvements with the child welfare system as well.

CHILDREN IN REPORTS BY RACE/ETHNICITY, SFY2020

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021. Latinx ethnicity is treated as a racial group in this dataset. Data portrayed in chart include all reports of suspected maltreatment that met DCBS acceptance criteria.

Experienced Abuse or Neglect

CHILDREN IN SUBSTANTIATED INVESTIGATIONS OF ABUSE & NEGLECT

DCBS investigates all intakes meeting acceptance criteria and substantiates an investigation if evidence proves that it is more likely than not that abuse, neglect, or dependency was committed. Children are much more likely to be neglected than to be physically or sexually abused (see chart below).

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021. Data portrays an unduplicated count of children determined by DCBS to be victims of abuse, neglect, or dependency.

CHILDREN IN SUBSTANTIATED INVESTIGATIONS BY MALTREATMENT TYPE, 2020

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services, TWIST Y084. Data as of February 2021.

Baseline Data

3,123

SFY2013

Latest Data

3,093

SFY2020

Change Since Baseline

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021.

Data by Race/Ethnicity

Data by Race/Ethnicity

When families are struggling, the right supports and services can put them on a path of healing and provide new, safe and healthy ways of managing challenges. In many cases where abuse or neglect is suspected, families can successfully learn skills from professionals on effective ways to communicate and to support their children’s development and, when appropriate, receive treatment for mental or behavioral health issues. Nationally, the child welfare system has been shifting towards a more supportive approach, yet some practices continue to contribute to the overrepresentation of Black youth in substantiated cases. Differences in the frequency and quality of services provided to families by race can, in turn, shape case outcomes. Agency factors like disengagement from the community served, the agency’s organizational culture and infrastructure, policies or practices designed to address the needs of White families that have a different impact for families of color, and resource availability in different communities all can contribute to higher rates of substantiation among families of color.

CHILDREN IN SUBSTANTIATED INVESTIGATIONS BY RACE/ETHNICITY, SFY2020

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021. Latinx ethnicity is treated as a racial group in this dataset. Data portrays an unduplicated count of children determined by DCBS to be victims of abuse, neglect, or dependency.

In state custody

CHILDREN IN OUT-OF-HOME CARE

If it is deemed unsafe for children to remain in their home during and/or after an investigation for abuse or neglect, they are removed and placed in out-of-home care. Out-of-home care includes placements in foster homes, DCBS adoptive homes, residential treatment facilities, with relatives and fictive kin licensed as foster parents, as well as those in independent living and those placed out of state.

Unfortunately, not all child victims of abuse and neglect are kept safe from experiencing maltreatment again. In SFY2020, 6% of child victims of substantiated abuse or neglect had another substantiated report within six months of the previous substantiation. This is an improvement from a recent high of 13% in SFY2018.

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021. Data portrays the number of children in out-of-home care at the end of the state fiscal year. Most, but not all, children in out-of-home care are there due to abuse or neglect.

Baseline Data

854

SFY2013

Latest Data

1,146

SFY2020

Change Since Baseline

Data by Race/Ethnicity

Data by Race/Ethnicity

All children need safe homes and loving families to thrive, either with their biological parents, or with kin, foster parents, or adoptive parents. When it is safe to do so, providing family preservation services can keep families together who are at risk of having children removed from the home. For many children, the next best option is to be placed with other relatives (kin) or close family friends (fictive kin) until parental reunification is possible. Unfortunately factors like low socioeconomic status, family structure, and lack of meaningful access to effective prevention and family preservation programs contribute to Black children being much more likely to be removed from their homes than White children in the child welfare system.

CHILDREN IN OUT-OF-HOME CARE BY RACE/ETHNICITY, END OF SFY2020

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021. Latinx ethnicity is treated as a racial group in this dataset. Data portrays the number of children in out-of-home care at the end of the state fiscal year.

Deaths and Near Deaths

CHILD FATALITIES AND NEAR FATALITIES DUE TO ABUSE OR NEGLECT

The most dangerous incidences of child abuse and neglect result in the death or near fatality of a child. Near fatality is defined as an injury that, as certified by a physician, places a child in serious or critical condition. In SFY 2019, children under age 5 made up 64% of the child fatalities and near fatalities due to abuse or neglect.

Data source and notes: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services. Data as of March 2021. Data for SFY2020 will be posted after pending cases are finalized. Data portrays children that died or were placed in serious or critical condition as a result of child abuse or neglect, as determined by DCBS. Data includes cases that had prior involvement with DCBS and those that did not.

Baseline Data

10

SFY2014

Latest Data

25

SFY2019

Change Since Baseline

Data by Race/Ethnicity

Data is not available

Report It

Kentucky

1-877-KYSAFE1 or 1-877-597-2331

Additional Support:

TEXT ALERTS!

Jefferson County Data Dashboard

8,306

8,358

3,123

3,093

854

1,146

10

25