Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS–4)

time of the NIS–4. In Phase II, coders applied the SPS screening criteria to theuninvestigated children in the NIS–4 main study and decided whether, according to thescreening criteria the local CPS agency used at the time of the study, CPS would havescreened them in for investigation.Sentinel Definitions Survey (SDS). The NIS goes beyond maltreatedchildren who come to the attention of CPS agencies by relying on communityprofessionals (sentinels) who encounter child maltreatment in the course of their work invarious agency sectors, including health, law enforcement, schools, social services andmental health, public housing, day care centers, and shelters. In most states,professionals in these sectors are mandated reporters, required by law to report anysuspected child maltreatment to CPS. However, except for a supplementary survey ofschool sentinels in the NIS–3 (Sedlak & Schultz, 1997), previous NIS cycles have notdirectly asked sentinels about their training on mandated reporting or the standards theyapply in deciding whether to report suspected maltreatment to CPS. Also, although NIShas always trained the sentinels to be on the lookout for the full scope of maltreatmentsituations that are, or could be, countable under the study definitions, NIS has neverexamined sentinels’ own definitions of maltreatment, or asked about their standards forsubmitting children to the study. This has hampered interpreting changes in the size ofthe maltreated child population from one NIS cycle to the next, since the study has hadno means of determining whether or to what extent the changes reflected true changes inthe occurrence of child maltreatment as opposed to shifts in sentinels’ definitions or intheir standards for submitting data to the study.The Sentinel Definitions Survey (SDS) filled these important gaps(McPherson and Sedlak, 2010). Professionals who participated in the main NIS–4 assentinels responded to a follow-up questionnaire about their background, experiencesreporting to CPS, and reporting procedures in their agency. Using vignettes thatdescribed forms of maltreatment in the NIS–4 typology, the questionnaire also askedabout the conditions that they identified as maltreatment and their standards for reportinga situation to CPS or submitting it to a national study, such as the NIS.2–21