Epidemiology of Child Maltreatment Recurrences Diane DePanfilis University of Mar yland Susan J. Zuravin University of Mar yland The recurrence of child maltreatment following a report to Child Protective Services is one index of the effectiveness of the public child welfare system. This article reports on the analysis of the patterns and frequency of recurrences of substantiated instances of maltreatment in an urban child welfare system. Results from survival analyses indicated that risk of recurrence was greatest during the first 30 days following a report, that risk declined with time and remained relatively low for 2 years following the termination of services, and that recurrence was dependent on the type of maltreatment. Most recur- rence families experienced only one recurrence, but a clustering effect was apparent for families that experienced multiple recurrences. Child maltreatment is a serious, prevalent, and costly social problem. 1 Approximately one million American children are confirmed by Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies as abused and neglected each year; 2 many grow into adults with serious social, health, and mental problems. 3 Children who experience multiple episodes of child maltreatment are even more likely to experience both short- and long-term negative con- sequences. In fact, the very premise on which child maltreatment report- ing systems were founded was to arrange for the protection of children and to reduce the likelihood that children would be repeatedly mal- treated. 4 However, as a recent review of the recurrence literature has pointed out, as many as 50 percent of children may be repeatedly mal- treated in part because the system has been unable to respond effec- tively. 5 This failure may also have contributed to increases in the foster care population and the death of children. 6 Social Service Review ( June 1999).  1999 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0037-7961/99/7302-0004$02.00