Child abuse and neglect affect children's health now and into the future. Children experiencing maltreatment can suffer from poor mental and physical health well into adulthood.

In 2021, 13.5 children per 1,000 were reported to be abused or neglected, up from 12.3 in 2020 but down from nearly 15 in 2012, and higher than the national rate of 8. This makes Arkansas tied for 41st in the nation for this indicator. Among major racial and ethnic groups, rates were highest for Black children at 15.0, followed by 13.8 for white children and 7.9 for Hispanic children.

County-level data was only available as number of true reports (not children in reports). In 2021, counties with the highest rates of reports per 1,000 children were Green, Scott, and Little River counties at 15 or more, and those with the lowest were Calhoun with 2.0, Desha and Phillips both with 3.0 and Monroe with 3.4.

Children and families of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, particularly Black and African American children, are more likely to be reported as suspected victims of child abuse due to a variety of factors including poverty, over-surveillance, and systemic bias within the child welfare system. The stress of living in economic scarcity can affect parenting capacity. Additionally, families experiencing poverty have a higher exposure to social services systems which increases their visibility to mandated reporters--a phenomenon often referred to as surveillance bias. Finally, factors within the medical and child welfare systems including unconscious bias among decision-making individuals such as reporters and caseworkers, and the lack of adequate diverse, bilingual and culturally competent staff can lead to disparities in reported cases of child abuse and neglect.

State and national data report the number of victims of child abuse and neglect, expressed as a rate per 1,000 children under 18. A child maltreatment victim is defined as a child who is the subject of a substantiated, indicated, or "alternative response" maltreatment report. A child is counted only once as a victim regardless of the number of times he or she was found to be a victim during the reporting year. For subgroups, the traditional race and ethnicity breakdown displays non-Hispanic race categories and Hispanic children of any race. State and national data and subgroup data breakouts are from the U.S. Administration for Children and Families.

Child-level data was not available for counties. County data reflects the number of reports found to be true in each county, per 1,000 children in the county.