The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) was created within which federal department?

• A. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
• B. Department of Education
• C. Department of Health and Human Services
• D. Department of Justice

Answer: (A)

The main idea is understanding how early federal child welfare efforts were organized administratively. When NCCAN was created, matters of health, education, and welfare were all housed under the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. This combined umbrella made sense for a center focused on child abuse and neglect, since the work touches health, family welfare, and social services, and the department funded and coordinated such efforts. The other departments aren’t the origin because Justice is primarily about law enforcement, Education didn’t host this center at its inception, and Health and Human Services didn’t exist yet in that form—DHEW was the predecessor, which later split into DHHS and the separate Department of Education.