[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6546-6549]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-3469]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families


Children's Bureau/National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect 
Proposed Research Priorities for Fiscal Years 1997-2001

AGENCY: Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), 
Administration for Children and Families (ACF), HHS.

ACTION: Notice of proposed child abuse and neglect research priorities 
for fiscal years 1997-2001.

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SUMMARY: The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect/Children's 
Bureau (NCCAN/CB) within the Administration on Children, Youth and 
Families (ACYF) announces the proposed priorities for research on the 
causes, prevention, assessment, identification, treatment, cultural and 
socio-economic distinctions, and the consequences of child abuse and 
neglect.

NOTE: The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) was 
established in 1974 to carry out the functions of the Child Abuse 
Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Pursuant to Pub. L. 104-235, the 
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Amendments of 1996, the Office 
on Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN) will, in the near future, be 
established by the Secretary for the purpose of coordinating the 
functions and activities of CAPTA, replacing NCCAN.
    Section 104(a)(2) of CAPTA, as amended by Pub. L. 104-235, requires 
the Secretary to publish proposed priorities for research activities 
for public comment and allow 60 days for public comment on such 
proposed priorities. The proposed priorities are being announced for 
the five year period that corresponds to the authorization period for 
CAPTA. Because the amount of Federal funds available for discretionary 
activities in Fiscal Years 1997-2001 is expected to be limited, 
respondents are encouraged to recommend how the proposed issues should 
be prioritized.
    As research issues arise or new issues emerge through consultation 
with other entities, additional announcements of proposed priorities 
will be published for public comment.
    The actual solicitation of grant applications will be published 
separately in the Federal Register for

[[Page 6547]]

each fiscal year. Solicitations for contracts will be announced, at 
later dates, in the Commerce Business Daily. No proposals, concept 
papers, or other forms of application should be submitted at this time.
    No acknowledgment will be made of the comments submitted in 
response to this notice, but all comments received by the deadline will 
be reviewed and given thoughtful consideration in the preparation of 
the final funding priorities for the announcements. The names and 
addresses of all those who submit comments will be added to the mailing 
list for receiving copies of the final program announcements when they 
are published.

DATES: In order to be considered, comments must be received no later 
than April 14, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to: James A. Harrell, Deputy 
Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 
Attention: CB/NCCAN, PO Box 1182, Washington, DC. 20013.
    Electronic comments may be sent to: <[email protected]>
    If you comment electronically and wish to be added to the mailing 
list, please include a street address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    In addition to projects funded under priority areas selected as a 
result of this announcement, NCCAN/CB may continue discretionary 
funding for:
     The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect 
Information;
     The National Resource Center on Child Maltreatment;
     Future phases of the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies 
of Child Maltreatment;
     The National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect; and
     The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) 
technical assistance and technical support program.
    NCCAN/CB will continue to pursue Interagency Agreements to develop 
collaborative research with other Federal agencies to carry out an 
interdisciplinary program of research that is designed to provide 
information needed to better protect children from abuse or neglect and 
to improve the well-being of abused or neglected children. NCCAN/CB 
also will continue to participate in the development of a Federal 
framework for child welfare research and an ACF strategic research 
agenda on child abuse and neglect.
    In addition, NCCAN/CB explicitly acknowledges on-going analytic 
work with the National Incidence Study (NIS), the National Child Abuse 
and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), and the Adoption and Foster Care 
Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data collection projects that 
will inform several of the topics described below. Comments about 
research topics and future activities should be addressed in light of 
this ongoing work. The relevant topics include: recurrence (the numbers 
and characteristics of children and families in both substantiated and 
unsubstantiated reports that return to the system) and patterns of 
recurrence (repeat substantiations, as well as unsubstantiated cases 
that return as substantiated cases) which will be topics of analysis in 
the NCANDS Detailed Case Data Component (DCDC) in the coming year; the 
removal of children and abuse and neglect in foster care will be 
examined by cross-walking data between NCANDS and AFCARS; mandated 
reporter characteristics and child characteristics, as correlates, will 
be explored through further analysis of both NCANDS and NIS data; and 
court activity related to substantiated reporting will be explored 
through additional analyses of NCANDS data.
    Information on these and other prior and continuing projects 
supported by NCCAN/CB as well as on other studies of child maltreatment 
are available through the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and 
Neglect Information, PO Box 1182, Washington, DC. 20013 (1-800-394-
3366).
    The proposed research priority areas which follow have been 
developed in consultation with several entities and from several 
sources.
     The 1996 reauthorization of CAPTA, section 104.
     The National Research Council (NRC), Commission on 
Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (CBASSE), Panel on 
Research on Child Abuse and Neglect report, Understanding Child Abuse 
and Neglect. This report was produced by CBASSE in response to a 
request from ACYF to undertake a comprehensive review and synthesis of 
research on child abuse and neglect and to recommend research needs and 
priorities for the remainder of the decade. Over the last several 
years, NCCAN/CB has responded to individual recommendations as funding 
allowed. NCCAN/CB will continue to address the concerns raised in the 
NRC report, as appropriate.
     Reviews of current literature on child abuse and neglect.
     Findings from recently completed studies.
     Recommendations from the field.
     Meetings with other Departmental units and professional 
organizations.
    NCCAN/CB will continue to examine the recommendations from these 
various sources in light of other ongoing efforts and the applicability 
of the recommendations to Federal research goals.

II. Proposed Child Abuse and Neglect Research Priorities for Fiscal 
Years 1997-2001

A. Legislative Topics:

    A number of research topics are suggested in the 1996 
reauthorization of CAPTA, section 104. Comments are requested on the 
feasibility of these topics for research, their pertinence to the 
field, and their likelihood to promote innovative research that 
increases our understanding of all aspects of child maltreatment.
    The Research Frame: In general, all NCCAN/CB sponsored research 
must fit within an overall frame of research on the nature and scope of 
child abuse and neglect; the causes, prevention, assessment, 
identification, treatment, cultural and socio-economic distinctions, 
and consequences of child abuse and neglect; appropriate, effective and 
culturally sensitive investigative, administrative, and judicial 
procedures with respect to cases of child abuse; and the national 
incidence of child abuse and neglect. These areas of inquiry underlie 
all other questions and apply especially to inquiries that are 
investigator-initiated, as described below in section C.
    Mandated Reporting: Because entry into the child protective 
services system may be affected by factors in addition to those 
specific to an incident, research which explores these other factors 
will elucidate the entry, service, re-entry, and flow processes 
experienced by children and their families. Mandated reporting, for 
example, affects the number of reports made, the gateways into child 
protective services, and the allocation of resources in relation to the 
number of reports accepted for investigation.
    State child protective services (CPS) data show significant 
differences in the reporting patterns and substantiation rates for 
different reporting sources. For instance in an analysis of all reports 
investigated by CPS in 10 States in 1993, it was found that 60 percent 
of reports from legal and law enforcement professionals were 
substantiated or indicated versus 45 percent of reports from educators. 
(Child Abuse and Neglect Case Level Data 1993: Working Paper 1).

[[Page 6548]]

    Questions about mandated reporting include those that explore the 
extent to which the lack of adequate resources and the lack of adequate 
training of individuals required by law to report suspected cases of 
child abuse have contributed to the inability of a State to respond 
effectively to serious cases of child abuse and neglect.
    Unsubstantiated, unfounded, and false reports: Unsubstantiated, 
unfounded, and falsely reported cases of child abuse and neglect put 
considerable stress on the children and families who are the subjects 
of the reports, but also put stresses on the child protective service 
system itself. At this time, we have very little knowledge of the 
relationship between reports, however false, unsubstantiated or 
unfounded, and future maltreatment and system entry. Research questions 
might inquire about: the extent to which the number of unsubstantiated, 
unfounded, and falsely reported cases of child abuse or neglect 
contribute to the inability of a child welfare system or child 
protective services system to respond effectively to serious cases of 
child abuse or neglect; the extent to which and the pathways by which 
unsubstantiated reports return as more serious cases of child abuse or 
neglect.
    Reports in the context of family court proceedings: Some reports 
occur in a context of divorce, custody or other family court 
proceedings. NCCAN/CB is interested in the interaction between this 
venue and the child protective services system. Research might be at 
the individual, case, or system level. Questions might include: How 
does family history with a child protective services system relate to 
family court proceedings? Does entry into the child protective services 
system via the family court gateway have a relationship to particular 
case outcomes? What is the relationship, if any, between 
unsubstantiated, unfounded, and false reports and families involved in 
divorce, custody, or other family court actions?
    Substitute care: NCCAN/CB is interested in the relationship between 
child protective service systems and other child welfare programs as 
well as a more detailed look at differentiated effects within 
substitute care experiences. Research interests include: What is the 
context, incidence, and prevalence of child physical, sexual, and 
emotional abuse and physical and emotional neglect occurring in 
substitute care? Because substitute care is itself a service, are 
children in substitute care referred for and receiving additional 
services related to the precipitating incident or additional incidents 
of abuse and neglect? What is the efficacy of those additional services 
in terms of safety, permanency, and child well-being outcomes and does 
efficacy have a relationship to either the type of abuse precipitating 
the placement, demographic characteristics of the child (e.g., age, 
sex, disability), or characteristics of the substitute placement (e.g., 
relative care, licensing, certification).
    Substantiated cases: Substantiated cases of child maltreatment 
represent a particular sector of the child protective service 
population. NCCAN/CB is interested in funding research that explores 
system and sequelae questions with substantiated case samples, which 
may answer such questions as: Can ``system history'' and ``client 
characteristics'' be used to make predictions about future service 
needs and system usage? What are the number and characteristics of 
substantiated cases that result in a judicial finding of child abuse or 
neglect or related criminal court convictions?

B. Other Topics

    Child Safety and Child Fatality: NCCAN/CB is interested in research 
that explores ways to understand the nature and scope of child abuse 
and neglect that results in fatalities or permanent disabilities and 
systemic responses to child fatalities. Questions might include those 
which would explore reducing fatalities by asking questions about 
efficacious placement of siblings or termination of parental rights 
(TPR), as well as more prevention-oriented questions, including those 
which explore the context of home and community environments related 
especially to other forms of violence and the availability of a 
continuum of comprehensive community preventive and treatment services. 
Other research interests include: explorations of the relationship of 
child fatality or serious injuries to placement and TPR decisions; and 
``best practices'' and model development for safety assessment. 
Recommendations are requested on the ability to sustain a research 
focus on, and the usefulness of a focus on, variables related to 
strengths-based programming and resiliency characteristics at the 
family level especially as they are related to placement and TPR.
    Co-occurrence: Suggestions for additional research questions as 
well as comments are sought on research exploring the nature of the 
pathways between the co-occurrence of child maltreatment and substance 
abuse and/or domestic violence as those pathways relate to the 
prevention of child maltreatment, assessment of co-occurrence, 
treatment or intervention, and system responses to co-occurrence 
(including demands on treatment, training, and resources). Preliminary 
questions might include: What are the variety of system responses to 
identifying, as a dynamic issue, and coordinating, as a structural 
issue, services for co-occurrence? Do treatment models which begin with 
one or the other symptom have more efficacious outcomes? Are there 
identifiable ``best practices'' for treatment or service?
    Definitions: In the interest of supporting on-going work and 
encouraging new work in creating a consensus on definitions for 
research purposes, NCCAN/CB seeks recommendations for field tests in 
research settings and other applications of a set of working data 
elements developed by the research committee of the Interagency Task 
Force on Child Abuse and Neglect. The committee has been working with 
researchers over the past three years to identify the data elements 
that represent a core of consensus for research purposes about the 
experiences of child abuse and neglect. The overall goal of the work of 
the committee has been to present a common data collection set of 
attributes that explicitly describe the nature of maltreatment in a 
particular sample and allows samples to be compared, in terms of 
maltreatment experiences, across studies.
    Graduate Student Research Fellowships: With a continuing interest 
in encouraging new investigators to select child maltreatment as an 
area of specialty, NCCAN/CB seeks comments comparing the two models of 
graduate student research support employed most recently. One model 
awarded funds directly to eligible institutions for specific eligible 
individual students. The second model awarded funds to eligible 
institutions for a group consisting of a faculty member and eligible 
students, or student. The goal of the Fellowships is to develop 
mechanisms which support the renewal of the research field by 
increasing the number of new researchers who elect to study child abuse 
and neglect.
    Outcomes: Building on the work of the Children's Bureau regarding 
monitoring by outcomes and thinking ahead to the requirements for 
outcome-based performance partnerships, NCCAN/CB seeks comments on the 
socio-economic, cultural, and community variances which have bearing on 
the use of ``safety,'' ``permanency,'' and ``child and family well-
being'' as outcomes, and tools for assessing the outcomes. Questions

[[Page 6549]]

might include: What is the relationship between the availability of 
tools for assessing particular outcomes and a community's efforts to 
achieve those outcomes? From a systemic perspective, how does the 
definition of outcomes, or the operationalization of them, have impact 
on the system's delivery of services and the success of particular 
populations achieving the outcomes?
    Over-represented populations and special populations (i.e., racial 
and ethnic groups, children with disabilities): With continuing concern 
about over-representation, research questions might include: What are 
the characteristics of the system or the context that may contribute to 
the over-representation of some populations in child protective service 
caseloads? How do systems achieve a better understanding of the 
dynamics of the communities that are over-represented? How are clients 
assessed in order to generate knowledge about these populations that is 
formed from appropriate cultural and sociological perspectives?
    NCCAN/CB is interested in the safety and well-being of immigrant 
children and their families, as a special population. Questions might 
include explorations of service utilization, outreach, and cultural 
context. More specific examples of research questions might include: 
What are the relationships between child safety and well-being, child 
protective services, the characteristics and needs of the children and 
families themselves, and the communities in which they reside? How are 
the needs of immigrant children and their families identified and 
assessed? What are effective maltreatment prevention and treatment 
program models for these populations?
    Secondary Analysis: NCCAN/CB seeks comments regarding the interest 
of the field for funding of secondary analyses of federally-financed 
data collections and existing datasets. Opportunities here exist in the 
analysis of, for example, Head Start data, data from the Adoption 
Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), the 1994 National 
Study of Protective, Preventive and Reunification Services Delivered to 
Children and their Families, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data 
System (NCANDS), and the National Incidence Study (NIS), regarding 
specific field-generated or federally-generated research inquiries 
related to child maltreatment. Comments should include (1) suggestions 
for minimal award sizes and (2) suggestions for application strategies 
that reduce the burden of applying for these small-amount grants.
    Triage: Triage, here, is used to describe a differentiated response 
service-entry or resource allocation model for handling child abuse and 
neglect reports. Some triage models include assignment to service prior 
to investigation for some classes of reports. Research interests 
include questions about: The effects of a triage process on child 
safety and child and family well-being, caseload sizes, and resource 
allocation; and evaluations of the impact and efficacy of criteria, 
tools, and protocols for case assignment, safety and risk assessment. 
Does a triage approach result in changes in system responses, client 
behavior (i.e., recidivism), changes in public perception of CPS, or 
changes in clients' perceptions of CPS responsiveness to their needs or 
to the perception of a punitive nature of CPS service?
    Welfare Reform and System Changes: The impact of recent changes in 
family support entitlements, block granting of welfare funds, work 
requirements, child care needs, and other systemic changes is unknown. 
NCCAN/CB is interested in research which explores the interactions of 
these changes in welfare policy at the state and local level with child 
safety in general and the protective needs of children in particular. 
States have a range of options available to them as they implement new 
welfare programs. Questions might include: How do these policy choices 
affect child protective services agencies' ability to protect children? 
What are the impacts on case loads, case characteristics, and system 
entry and exit, for example, of family caps, time limits, and the 
transition to work?

C. Field Initiated Research on Child Abuse and Neglect

    The generation of new knowledge for understanding critical issues 
in child abuse and neglect improves prevention, identification, 
assessment, and treatment. Research areas to be addressed may be those 
that will expand the current knowledge base, build on prior research, 
contribute to practice enhancements, inform policy, improve science, 
and provide insights into new approaches to the assessment, prevention, 
intervention, and treatment of child maltreatment (i.e., physical 
abuse, sexual abuse, emotional maltreatment, or neglect) on any of the 
topics listed in (A) Legislative Topics, (B) Other Topics, above, or 
any other child maltreatment topic.
    In addition to the topics cited above, practitioners and 
researchers are encouraged to propose other relevant subjects for 
research topics.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 93.670, Child 
Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Treatment)

    Dated: February 7, 1997.
James A. Harrell,
Deputy Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families.
[FR Doc. 97-3469 Filed 2-11-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P