This is a detailed timeline of the history of the Child Welfare Information Gateway, ranging from the year 1962 to 2016:
1962 Dr. C Henry Kempe publishes "The Battered Child Syndrome," in The Journal of The American Medical Association, leading to the first guidelines for directing physicians to identify and report child abuse and neglect
1974 President Nixon signs the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)
1975 National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) Information is created
1978 PL 95-266, Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and the Adoption Reform Act of 1978 creates the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect
1983 First National Child Abuse Prevention Month proclamation is issued
1984 PL 98-457, Child Abuse Amendments of 1984 creates the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence Prevention
1984 President Reagan proclaims the first National Adoption week
1986 PL 99-509, Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1986 (Title IX, Subtitle E, Part 5) authorizes the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
1988 PL 100-294, Child Abuse Prevention, Adoption, and Family Services Act of 1988 creates the Inter-Agency Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect
1988 National Adoption Information Clearinghouse is created
1988 President Reagan issues the first presidential proclamation for National Foster Care month
1989 Wearing a blue ribbon in April becomes synonymous with National Abuse Prevention Month
1992 The National Resource Center for Special Needs Adoption is created; the National Resource Center on Family Violence replaces the Family Violence Clearinghouse
1996 PL 104-235, Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Amendments of 1996 abolishes NCCAN and the Inter-Agency Task Force; the Children’s Bureau is reorganized and the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN) is created
1996 First NCCAN website is launched
2000 The first National Adoption Month (NAM) website is launched. Visit the current NAM website at https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/adoption/nam/
2003 PL 108-36, Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of
2003 reauthorizes and amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act through fiscal year 2008
2003 The National Child Abuse Prevention Initiative launched (See the current website at https://www.childwelfare.gov/preventionmonth/)
2006 The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse are consolidated to form Child Welfare Information Gateway
2006 The Child Welfare Information Gateway (https://www.childwelfare.gov) website is launched
2008 The National Foster Care website is launched. Visit the current website at https://www.childwelfare.gov/fostercaremonth/
2009 LiveChat with information specialists is added to the Child Welfare Information Gateway website
2011 The first issue of Child Welfare in the News is released (Subscribe at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USACFCWIG/subscriber/new)
2016 The National Foster Care and Adoption Directory app goes live (Check it out at https://www.childwelfare.gov/nfcad/)