The Centrality of Child Maltreatment to Criminology

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Font ◽  
Reeve Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Crime And Delinquency ◽  
Comprehensive Measurement

Despite sufficient evidence to conclude that maltreatment exposure affects the risk of crime and delinquency, we conclude that the magnitude and specificity of effects of child maltreatment on crime and delinquency and the mechanisms through which those effects operate remain poorly identified. Key challenges include insufficient attention to the overlap of child maltreatment with various forms of family dysfunction and adversity and a lack of comprehensive measurement of the multiple, often comorbid, forms of child maltreatment. We then consider the potential impacts of the child welfare system on the maltreatment–crime link. Because the child welfare system typically provides voluntary, short-term services of unknown quality, it likely neither increases nor reduces risks of delinquency and crime for most children who are referred or investigated. For the comparatively small (although nominally large and important) subset of children experiencing foster care, impacts on delinquency and crime likely vary by the quality of environments within and after their time in care—issues that, to date, have received too little attention. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Criminology, Volume 5 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Who Is and Is Not Served by Child Protective Services Systems? Implications for a Prevention Infrastructure to Reduce Child Maltreatment

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-202
Author(s):  
Kristen S. Slack ◽  
Lawrence M. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Child Safety ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Child Maltreatment Prevention

The majority of alleged abuse or neglect reports to the U.S. child welfare system are either screened out prior to an investigation (i.e., at the “hotline” stage) or investigated only to be closed with no finding of immediate child safety concerns. Yet while many of these children and families are at risk of subsequent incidents of child maltreatment or child welfare system involvement, they are not systematically offered services or benefits intended to reduce this risk at the point that child protective services (CPS) ends its involvement. This article provides an overview of the “front end” of the child welfare system, commonly referred to as CPS, highlighting which families are served and which are not. We then argue for a systematic and coordinated child maltreatment prevention infrastructure that incorporates elements of “community response” programs that several U.S. states have implemented in recent years. Such programs are focused on families that have been reported to, and sometimes investigated by, CPS, but no ongoing CPS case is opened. We further argue that such programs need to pay particular attention to economic issues that these families face.

One Piece in the Child Welfare Puzzle: An Evaluation of Alabama Public Child Welfare Internships and Subsequent Employment

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-96
Author(s):  
Carolyn Seroka ◽  
Carole Zugazaga
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
White Child ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
State Child ◽  
Black Employees

Intervention with families and children when child maltreatment is suspected is one of the most critical practice areas of social work. This study examined the level of satisfaction for current child welfare stipend interns (n=106), the majority of whom were BSW students, and former stipend interns (n=59) after 1 year of employment within the Alabama state child welfare system. Overall, participants were satisfied with both internship and employment; however, job satisfaction for White child welfare employees was significantly higher than for Black employees. Sixty-two percent of the employees did not expect to remain employed with the agency over the next 5 years.

scholarly journals An evaluation of welfare and child welfare system integration on rates of child maltreatment in Colorado

2019 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 386-395
Author(s):  
Natasha E. Latzman ◽  
Colby Lokey ◽  
Catherine A. Lesesne ◽  
Joanne Klevens ◽  
Karen Cheung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
System Integration ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System

scholarly journals Self-assessment of the quality of life of children and adolescents in the child welfare system of Serbia

2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 469-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Damnjanovic ◽  
Aneta Lakic ◽  
Dejan Stevanovic ◽  
Ana Jovanovic ◽  
Jasna Jancic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
General Population ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Care Group

Background/Aim. Children and adolescents who enter a child welfare system are at higher risk of suffering from mental disorders, physical health, and/or social and educational problems than the general population of the same age is. This study was organized with the aim to evaluate the general characteristics of quality of life (QOL) in children and adolescents living in residential and foster care in Serbia. Methods. Two hundred and sixteen children and adolescents, aged 8-18 years, from residential and foster care and 238 children and adolescents from the general population participated in the study. QOL was assessed using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) - Serbian version. Three groups were created: residential care group (RCG), foster care group (FCG), and control group (children and adolescents from biological families - CG). Descriptive data were calculated for all questionnaires? scores, while t-test and ANOVA were used to compare them. Results. The mean value of the total PedsQL was lower in the RCG, 67.47 ? 17.75, than in the FCG and the CG, 88.33 ? 11.27 and 80.74 ? 11.23, respectively. Additionally, the RCG reported lower all PedsQL Scale scores, but the lowest value was for the psychosocial domain. These differences were statistically significant (F value ranged from 17.3 to 49.89, p < 0.000). However, only the scores of the RCG were statistically different from the FCG and the CG, while the differences between the FCG and the CG were statistically insignificant (p > 0.05). Conclusion. Children and adolescents living in residential care have significantly poorer QOL than those living in foster care or in biological families. On the other side, QOL in children and adolescents from foster care is similar to the one of those living in biological families.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Coroners’ Inquests in Relation to Child Maltreatment Fatalities: A Human Rights Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-547
Author(s):  
Joseph Martino
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Child Deaths ◽  
United Nations Convention

The potential of the coroner’s office in Ontario to reduce the incidents of child maltreatment-related fatalities is assessed through an examination of the four inquests completed between 2000 and 2015 involving the deaths of children connected with the child welfare system. Applying a human rights perspective rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is argued that a concern for the fundamental legal entitlements of children has been little in evidence at the inquests of child fatalities, detracting from the ability of these proceedings to contribute to the prevention of maltreatment-related child deaths. Data derived from the juries’ verdicts at these inquests are compared with the rights and principles prescribed in the Convention with a view to assessing the extent to which the latter are implicated in the former. Findings of note include the absence of a simple instance in which the Convention or its provisions were explicitly referenced in the inquest verdicts, a startling fact given Canada’s obligations under international law to a treaty dedicated to the preservation of the life and wellbeing of children.

scholarly journals Child Maltreatment and the Child Welfare System as Environmental Factors in the International Classification of Functioning

2022 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Kim ◽  
Corinne Moss ◽  
Jane Jungyoon Park ◽  
Christine Wekerle
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Dating Violence ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
International Classification Of Functioning

The WHO defines child maltreatment as any form of neglect, exploitation, and physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, committed against children under the age of 18. Youth involved in the child welfare system report more maltreatment experiences and environmental turbulence (e.g., number of moves, caseworkers), placing them at greater risk for poorer physical and mental health. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) provides a framework to describe health conditions and severity of disabilities for an individual and/or group in the context of environmental factors. The Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) study is a longitudinal study, assessing self-reports on variables (e.g., child maltreatment history, trauma symptoms, dating violence, and substance use) of youth in an urban child protection service system. This study focuses on 11 of the 24 MAP publications that pertain to health and functioning, which can be considered applicable to the ICF framework, following established linking rules. The purpose of this study is to analyze these MAP sub-studies, with maltreatment and involvement in the child welfare system as environmental factors that impact the functioning of child welfare-involved youth. Findings indicate significant relationships across environmental factors (i.e., child maltreatment histories, child welfare system involvement), health conditions (i.e., trauma symptomatology, psychological distress, intellectual disabilities), and functioning problems (i.e., substance use, adolescent dating violence, sexual risk-taking, coping motives, sleep problems). The interrelated nature of these factors in the MAP sub-studies suggests the value of the ICF model to a holistic health view of use to practitioners supporting system-involved youth, clarifying unattended environmental factors in guiding service provision for foster care and/or maltreated youth.

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