Child Welfare Information Gateway2019-05-142019-05-142017Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2017). Disclosure of confidential child abuse and neglect records. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/confide.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/4358State child protective services agencies are required to maintain records of the reports of suspected child abuse and neglect that they receive. These reports include identifying information about the child, the child’s family, conditions in the child’s home environment, the nature and extent of the child’s injuries, and information about other children in the same environment. Agency records also may include other information submitted by the reporter, including photographs and medical records, as well as the results of any assessments or investigations completed by the agency. These records are maintained by state child protection or social services agencies to aid in the investigation, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and to maintain statistical information for staffing and funding purposes. In many states, these records and the results of investigations are maintained in databases, which often are called central registries.1 The type of information retained in central registries and agency records and access to this information vary from state to stateen-USstate statutesconfidentialitychild welfarerecordsArticle