The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act became national law in the United States. This act authorized a National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect to compile information, operate a clearinghouse on programs showing promise of success in prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse, publish training materials, provide technical assistance to public and non-profit agencies, conduct research into the causes of abuse, and study changes in incidence. The Air Force (AF) published Air Force Regulation (AFR) 160-38, Child Advocacy Program, which established a committee at each Air Force base to investigate and evaluate suspected child abuse cases. This study focuses on child abuse in the Air Force community rather than in the military community as a whole. With the reported cases of child abuse and neglect in the Air Force rising every year, it does not seem possible that so many cases go unreported. However, in 1984, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect reported that eight per 1000 children had been abused nationwide, while the rate for the entire United States military was only 4.6 per 1000 (as reported earlier, the Air Force rate was 2.6 per 1000). A staff member at the Military Family Resource Center, feels that many cases off-base and in officer households are not reported. This relates to the fact that off-base occurrences are not being reported to base officials.