2025 NSCH Frequently Asked Questions
What is the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH)?
The NSCH is a household survey that produces national and state-level data on the physical and emotional health of children 0 - 17 years old in the United States. The survey collects information related to the health and well-being of children, including access to and use of health care, family interactions, parental health, school and after-school experiences, and neighborhood characteristics.
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Why is the NSCH important?
The NSCH is the only national and state-level survey on the health and well-being of children, their families, and their communities. The NSCH is essential to:
- state-level planning and program development.
- federal policy and program development.
- general scientific research on public health.
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Who sponsors the survey?
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau - part of the federal government - sponsors and provides the primary funding and oversight for the survey.
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How often are data collected and released?
Since 2016, the NSCH has been an annual survey. The survey supports national estimates every year and state-level estimates by combining 2 or 3 years of data. The NSCH data files are released every October.
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Why was I selected for the survey?
The U.S. Census Bureau chose your address, not you personally, as part of a randomly selected sample from a list of all mailable addresses in the United States. Only a sample is selected because surveying every address in the country would cost too much and take too long.
It is important that all selected households respond to the survey to make sure that the experiences of all types of households and families are represented.
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How was my address/household chosen?
The U.S. Census Bureau randomly selected your address from all mailable addresses in the country using scientific sampling methods. The sample is designed so that information collected will accurately describe the health experiences of all children in the United States.
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Why was only one child chosen?
A parent or adult caregiver is asked to complete the survey for one randomly selected child from each sampled household.
We select one child from each household to minimize the amount of time needed to complete the survey. The survey results are adjusted to represent the population of non-institutionalized children 0-17 years old.
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How long has Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal & Child Health Bureau (MCHB) been conducting this survey?
HRSA MCHB first conducted the NSCH in 2003. MCHB also fielded the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN) in 2001, 2005-2006, and 2009-2010 to assess the prevalence and impact of special health care needs among children and their families in the U.S. The survey was redesigned in 2016 when HRSA MCHB combined content from both the NSCH and NS-CSHCN into a single survey known solely as the NSCH. The redesigned NSCH has been conducted annually since 2016.
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How is my privacy protected?
The information that you provide is used solely for statistical purposes. All U.S. Census Bureau employees take an oath of confidentiality and are subject to fines or imprisonment for improperly disclosing information. Names and addresses are removed from all forms, and are not included in any statistical release. Also, the NSCH NEVER asks for:
- your Social Security number
- your personal information via email
- money or donations
- credit card information
For more information about U.S. Census Bureau data protection and privacy, visit
https://www.census.gov/about/policies/privacy.html
What is the legal authority behind the NSCH?
The U.S. Census Bureau is conducting the NSCH on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Title 13, United States Code, Section 8(b), which allows the Census Bureau to conduct surveys on behalf of other agencies, and Title 42, United States Code Section 701(a)(2) which allows the HHS to collect information for the purpose of understanding the health and well-being of children in the United States.
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How do I verify that the phone call or survey materials are legitimate?
To verify that the survey materials are legitimate, please call the U.S. Census Bureau at 1-800-845-8241. This survey has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The eight-digit OMB approval number that appears at the bottom left corner of the survey web page, and at the upper left corner of the form confirms this approval. If this number were not displayed, we could not conduct this survey.
To verify that the phone call or correspondence is legitimate, please call the U.S. Census Bureau at 1-800-523-3205. When contacted about the NSCH, a survey representative can always provide you with their name and interviewer code to confirm employment with the U.S. Census Bureau.
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For this survey, is it safe to provide my information over the Internet?
Your information is always encrypted. Our secure servers use "HTTPS," Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, to ensure the encrypted transmission of data between your browser and the U.S. Census Bureau.
This means that instead of sending readable text over the Internet, both your browser and our server encode (scramble) all data using a security key. In addition to data being encrypted during transmission, all data are encrypted for protection when stored on the Census Bureau servers.
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How can I be sure my information is really going to the Census Bureau and not some third party?
Our secure server uses a digital certificate (digital ID) issued by a Certificate Authority as proof of identity. The digital ID will contain information such as:
- "U.S. Census Bureau" as the name of the organization that owns the web site
- "respond.census.gov" as the site's registered Internet name/address
- "Verisign Trust Network" as the name of the Certificate Authority under which the digital ID was issued
The method for viewing a web site's Digital Certificate/ID varies depending on the web browser. Please see your browser's "help" information for instructions on how to verify a web site's identity.
What kinds of questions does the survey ask?
Survey topics include:
- Child and family characteristics
- Physical and mental health status, including current conditions and functional difficulties
- Health insurance status, type, and adequacy
- Access and use of health care services
- Medical, dental, and specialty care needed and received
- Family health and activities
- Impact of childs health on family
- Neighborhood characteristics
Do I have to participate?
No. However, your participation is very important because each person who answers the survey represents thousands of others. Not participating in the survey may mean that children like yours or those in your community will not be represented in the results. Many people find participating to be interesting and enjoyable. You may choose not to answer any question for any reason.
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Why should I participate?
Participating in the NSCH helps families, communities, educators, researchers, policymakers, child advocates, and the general public better understand and respond to the health service needs of children and families. Your response also helps provide information for various federal and state programs that keep track of U.S. children's health, including the Title V maternal and child health program and the Healthy People 2030 initiative.
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How long will it take?
The survey should take less than 5 minutes if there are no children in your household, and, on average, 40 minutes for households with children.
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What if I do not know an exact answer to a question?
You can ask someone else in your household. They might know the answer. If no one knows or there is no one else in your household, please provide your best guess or estimate. If you need clarification on what a specific question is asking, please call the U.S. Census Bureau toll-free at 1-800-845-8241 or email us at
childrenshealth@census.gov.
Why does the NSCH ask such detailed questions?
Detailed information is collected because many of the child health challenges faced by families, communities, and states are complicated. In addition, the survey is the only source of information in the country on some health conditions and needs.
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How can I respond to the survey or get help?
You can respond in one of the following ways:
- Web questionnaire
- Paper questionnaire
As noted in the letter you received requesting your participation, if you cannot complete the survey by Web, you may contact the U.S. Census Bureau at 1-800-845-8241 or
childrenshealth@census.gov for assistance. You can also contact us if you received a Web questionnaire invitation only and prefer to respond by paper.
There are no children in my household. Do I still need to answer the survey?
Yes, even if there are no children in the home, we still need you to respond so that we can get accurate information about the number of children living in the United States.
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How do I recover my Web survey Login ID or PIN?
If you have lost or misplaced your Web Login ID and/or PIN, please call the U.S. Census Bureau toll-free at 1-800-845-8241 for assistance.
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How is this survey different than the Census?
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts other censuses regularly, including censuses of business and manufacturers and censuses of state and local governments. Additionally, the U.S. Census Bureau collects data on topics such as unemployment rates, retail and wholesale trade, various manufacturing activities, and new housing construction, business, manufacturing, governments, family income, health, and education.
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How is the U.S. Census Bureau involved?
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the survey, oversees the sampling, and produces final public use data sets of the results.
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Where can I find data released before 2016?
Before 2016, the survey was conducted every 4 years.
Information and data from prior to 2016 can be accessed through the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics or the Data Resource Center for Child & Adolescent Health.
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