Substantiation is the means by which the law confirms that abuse has taken place. These laws vary from state to state, but each law sets the guidelines by which a case can be proven within the court system. Most have huge loop holes, allowing millions of cases each year to be deemed unfounded. This does not mean that abuse did not occur, just that it did not fall within the guidelines of substantiation.

Let's consider for a moment the approximately 969,000 cases that were substantiated. Of these cases, approximately 87,210 were accepted for service by the Child Protection Service. What the report doesn't state clearly is that some 881,790 cases were substantiated, but not offered services. Keep in mind, that these are numbers of cases, not numbers of children. A case may represent maltreatment of more than one child in any given report.

In using the percentages of types of cases substantiated, the following figures were obtained.

Of the 969,000 cases substantiated, 60% were neglect cases, for a total of approximately 581,400. Physical abuse claimed 23% of the cases substantiated, for a total of approximately 222,870. Sexual abuse ranked third in substantiation for a total of approximately 87,210. Emotional abuse was substantiated in some 38,760 cases reported. In the category of other, 48,450 cases met substantiation guidelines.

Of the 3,126,000 cases reported, approximately 1,938,120 were neglect, approximately 781,500 were physical abuse, some 218,820 were sexual abuse, approximately 93,780 were emotional abuse, with the category of other abuse totaling approximately 125,040.

In the following comparison, a more clear picture of these figures is shown.

	GREEN = Substantiated BLUE = Reported

What does all of this mean? This indicates that the system fails to recognize the full extent of abuse under the current guidelines, and where it does recognize it, it fails to offer assistance to children in need.

Taken from the percentages give in the NCPCA's 1996 Annual Fifty State Survey, the following numbers will show the lack of service the present system provides to children in need. These are using figures of substantiated cases.

Neglect	581,400
Physical Abuse	222,870
Sexual Abuse	87,210
Emotional Abuse	38,760
Other Types of Abuse	48,450

Ironically, the approximate number of cases accepted for service by the CPS matches the number of sexual abuse cases. For the sake of illustration, let's say all the sexual abuse cases (this is not reality) received services. This would leave all other cases on record offered no services during the reported year.

Taking a look at these numbers, it is not hard to see that our present system fails to meet the minimum requirement of offering assistance to children proven to have been abused and are in need of services. By any criteria, a child who has been abused should be deemed in need of assistance.

Now let's consider the 2,153,000 cases of reported abuse that were not substantiated. While it is true some of these cases may be totally unfounded, it would be a far stretch to any imagination to say this number represents the number of "crank calls" received. That is a percentage that is not available in this report.

The numbers of cases reported have risen 45% since 1987. Due to education, public awareness and intervention, abuse is being recognized more readily. The laws currently in place have not been changed to meet the needs of abused children. Check with your local advocates to see if your state's substantiation laws are effective. If they are not, please consider what needs to be done. For the sake of the children of this nation, change must be implemented. The laws we have are not working. They are leaving too many children to deal with abuse on their own. Perhaps, together, we can make a difference for these children.

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