We relied on measures of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and whether it was the child’s first confirmed report of maltreatment in any given year to generate our estimates. Age, sex, and race/ethnicity were recorded by CPS caseworkers. We coded race/ethnicity into five categories: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native American. A child’s race/ethnicity was coded as Native American in all instances in which this group was entered. For all children who were not Native American, we coded the child as of Hispanic origin if this ethnic indicator was entered. All children who were not Native American or of Hispanic origin were considered Black if they reported Black as a remaining race and Asian/Pacific Islander if they reported as Asian/Pacific Islander and did not report as Native American, Hispanic, or Black. The remaining children were considered White. The measure of first confirmed maltreatment report was based on a variable in the original NCANDS data. In those instances in which a child had multiple CPS reports open for investigation at the same time and during the same year, only the first confirmed
