It is difficult to determine exactly how many children are abused and/or neglected each year. Several state and national studies have been conducted, but because of the way the data was collected the results can be misleading and may not present an accurate picture. For instance, we know that most research is based on cases substantiated by child protective agencies. The first problem with the statistics from these studies is that only half (1/2) of actual cases are ever reported in the first place to these type agencies. The second problem is that these agencies are severely limited in their resources and only report on those cases that they can manage to follow up on.

• In 2002, over 4.5 million reports of child abuse and neglect were made in the U.S. Approximately 896,000 children were found to have been victims of abuse or neglect. This statistic means that if only half are reported, then there were actually 9 million cases and, one would suspect, almost 1.4 million substantiated cases. Since there are almost 80 million kids between the ages of birth and 21 in the U.S., then a little over 7.5 % of our nation's children are being abused and/or neglected each year.
• Of those confirmed, 60.5% were neglect, 18.6% were physical abuse, 9.9% were sexual abuse, 6.5% were emotional maltreatment and 18.9% were due to other forms of maltreatment. (percents are not additive as one victim may have multiple types of abuse)
• It is also estimated that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be abused in some way before their 22nd birthday. That is 2 of 9 children, or 22% of all children.
• 4 children die in the U.S. each day directly as a result of abuse.
• 13,700 children in the U.S. are abused or neglected each day
• Every 11 seconds a child is reported abused or neglected
• Every 2 hours a child is a homicide victim