What happens to child abuse reports in Minnesota?

What would happen if you were to make a child abuse report in Minnesota? More than likely, it will not be investigated.

April 22, 2015 at 3:22PM

This flow chart shows what happens when a child abuse report is made in Minnesota. Roll over a circle to learn how often counties decide to pursue a report to determine if a child is safe, whether child protection investigates the report and how often children are re-reported for abuse. Click on a solid circle to reveal more steps in the process.

The possible paths one of the 67,888 reports filed with Child Protective Services can take:

17% Repeat Reports

After family assessment, children reported as abuse or neglect victims are the subject of new reports within 12 months.

14% Repeat Reports

After an investigation, children reported as abuse or neglect victims are the subject of new reports within 12 months.

Source: Department of Human Services Child Welfare reports, Star Tribune analysis, based on 2012 and 2013 data.

Note: Some totals add up to more than 100 percent due to overlapping responses.

about the writer

about the writer

Jeff Hargarten

Data Journalist

Jeff Hargarten is a Minnesota Star Tribune journalist at the intersection of data analysis, reporting, coding and design.

See Moreicon

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
card image
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, ASSOCIATED PRESS/The Minnesota Star Tribune

The "winners" have all been Turkeys, no matter the honor's name.

In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece