Interim Report to the Congress on the Feasibility of a National Child Abuse Registry

About 45 states maintain child abuse registries, which are databases that allow child protective services investigators routine access to child abuse history information to inform better current investigations. Most states also use their registries to conduct pre-employment background checks on persons who work with children, such as day care providers. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-248) requires that HHS conduct a study to assess the feasibility of establishing a national child abuse and neglect registry and present the results in a Report to Congress. This interim report describes key issues regarding the feasibility of establishing a national child abuse registry and concludes that implementation is not feasible under the statutory limitations of the authorizing legislation. Further feasibility study activities are underway and will be described in a final report when results are available. [68 PDF pages]