Methodology
Geo Data

Notes on Source Data

IMPORTANT NOTE: The following methodology may include references to report features not available on the public site version. On the public site, masking is performed to protect the privacy of individuals served by CDSS and comply with CDSS data de-identification guidelines. Values of 1 to 10 and calculations based on values of 1 to 10 are masked ('M' or '*'). In stratified views of the data, additional values (the lowest available) are masked to prevent calculation of values 1 to 10.

These reports compute annual child maltreatment allegation and entry rates at the zip code and census tract levels based on population projections from a private vendor--the Nielson Claritas company (since California Department of Finance data are not stratified more specifically than at the county level).

Claritas generates current and five-year population and other demographic projections using a variety of sources (e.g., U.S. Census, U.S. Postal Service, local government agencies and non-governmental sources such as Equifax, and the National Association of Realtors) and thus its county-level population estimates may differ from those provided by the California Department of Finance.

Cells containing a period (".") represent a value of zero. In cells representing quotients, a period may also indicate the indeterminate form 0/0.

Please also note that, in some rare instances, an allegation or entry may be geo-coded to a place in which there is little to no population that officially resides there (e.g., a national forest area, an airport); in these cases, the number of children with allegations or entries may be greater than the estimated population for a given zip code or census tract.

The county child maltreatment allegation and entry rates for a given year are computed by dividing the unduplicated count of children (with an allegation or entering foster care, respectively) by the county child population and then multiplying by 1,000 (for an incidence rate per 1,000 children in the population). Similarly, allegation and entry rates for each county's zip codes or census tracts are computed by geocoding all allegations and entries for a given county and time period, unduplicating at the child level, and then dividing the number of children with allegations or entries in each zip code or tract by the number of children 0-17 years old in the general population for the respective zip codes or tracts (multiplied by 1,000).