In Data News, 2022-01-06
Data are collected from the Missouri Department of Social Services Child Abuse/Neglect Hotline Unit (CANHU). The Missouri Juvenile Officer Performance Standards (2017) define a juvenile and family division referral as “the initial information provided to the juvenile officer from the referring agency inclusive of the identifying information and basis for the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.” For the purpose of annual reporting, unless otherwise indicated, disposed referrals represent the unit of measurement, not individual youth.
The juvenile and family division is responsible for processing and supervising four referral types: Status Offenses, Law Offenses, Child Abuse and Neglect (CA/N), and Administrative.