Methodology
Recurrence of Allegations

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.

This supplemental safety measure reflects the number and percentage of children who were subjects of a child maltreatment allegation within a 12-month period for whom there were additional maltreatment allegations during the subsequent 6, 12, 18 and 24 month time periods.

The denominator is the count of children with at least one allegation reported during the 12-month base period; the numerator is the count of the children in the denominator who had at least one additional allegation in the 6, 12, 18 or 24 month period following the initial allegation. When there is more than one allegation in the follow-up period, the allegation with the most certain disposition and the most severe form of alleged abuse is reported.

Inclusion in the follow-up period is based on the date the subsequent allegation was received. Additionally, allegation codes: 5001, "At risk, sibling abused" and 5624, "Substantial risk" are excluded.

All allegations for each child received within a 14-day period beginning with the receipt of the first allegation are combined to form a single unit (“referral”). If this referral contains more than one allegation of a different abuse and/or disposition type, the allegation with the most certain disposition type is retained in the following order: substantiated, inconclusive, unfounded, assessment only, and not yet determined. If there is more than one allegation with the same level of disposition, the most severe allegation type is retained according to the allegation type severity hierarchy established by CWS/CMS (see additional details in the “Allegation Type” link provided below). In the following paragraphs the term “allegation” refers to the single allegation identified using this process. This process is used for both the base allegation and for any subsequent allegations that may occur in the 6, 12, 18, or 24 month follow-up periods.

The denominator includes the first allegation for each child in the base period that meets the disposition data and allegation type requirements as described above. Each child is reported no more than once in each 12-month base period and the first reported allegation is not necessarily the allegation with the most certain disposition type and/or most severe allegation in the base period. Therefore, the selected allegations are essentially a sample of the allegations that occurred during the base period. For the subsequent allegations, all allegations received during the selected time period ending 6, 12, 18 or 24 months after the base allegation was received are considered. From those allegations, the allegation with the most certain disposition type and, within that group, the most severe allegation type is selected, as described above. This process is distinct for each base period disposition class.

This differs from other allegation reports and for this reason the reports are not directly comparable. Allegation Report Differences for details.

Users also have the option to limit the denominator to the first allegation within the base period or the first ever. An inflated proportion of allegations are identified as 'first ever' in early base periods, since data include children born before 1998, the first year that data are available. For example, a child with what seems to be a first allegation in 1998 may have had a referral allegation in 1996. For this reason, base periods available for display start with Jan-Dec 2000.

County is assigned in this analysis using the county specific code from the assignment table corresponding with the referral received date during the specified 12 month base period.

Age in this analysis is based on the first referral received date during the specified base period.

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

This measure may also be run with filters in place to restrict the data to various subgroups of other variables (e.g., Black subgroup of the Ethnicity variable,<1 year old subgroup of the Age variable, etc.). The age variable applies to the age at the time of the base referral.

Age Group

Ethnic Group

Sex at Birth

Base Allegation Type

Base Reporter Type

Disposition Type