On Racial Disparities in Child Abuse Reports: Exploratory Mapping the 2018 NCANDS

2021 ◽  
pp. 107755952110019
Author(s):  
Amanda Luken ◽  
Reshmi Nair ◽  
Rebecca L. Fix
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Psychological Abuse ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
White Child ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Child Population

Research suggests children from non-White and Hispanic/Latinx communities are at higher risk for child maltreatment. This study identified in which states children from specific non-White communities were overrepresented in child protective services reports for child physical, sexual, and emotional/psychological abuse through exploratory mapping. Reports on child maltreatment originated from the 2018 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and state-level population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Racial disparities were identified in states with unequal proportions of reported child maltreatment among a non-White child population compared to the proportion among the White child population. We found disparities for children from non-White communities in many states, especially for Black communities (Disparity Ratio [DR]: 15.10 for child physical abuse, DR: 12.77 for child sexual abuse in Washington DC, and DR: 5.25 for child emotional/psychological abuse in California). The ability to identify high disparities among Pacific Islanders highlights one of the study’s strengths, given we separately examined Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and multiracial communities. Results from our exploratory mapping provide insight into how preventive resources might be differentially allocated to non-White communities with higher child protective services reporting compared with White communities, and manifest states with multiple non-White communities overrepresented across maltreatment types.

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.

Child Abuse

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
pp. 805-806
Author(s):  
ALLAN R. DE JONG ◽  
MIMI ROSE
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Iron Pyrite ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Physical Evidence

In Reply.— We thank Dr Smith for his interesting perspective regarding screening for child abuse. We had hoped our article would help physicians focus on the verbal evidence of abuse and show how insensitive the physical evidence is in predicting which child had been abused sexually. To apply the principles of sensitivity and specificity to the assessment of child abuse or sexual abuse, we must have a gold standard which characterizes these problems. Neither a child protective services decision nor a legal determination of "no proven abuse" can be used as a gold standard, unless we can accept a "gold standard" made of iron pyrite.

Child abuse and mandatory reporting: A review in progress

1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Holland
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Physical Abuse ◽  
Psychological Abuse ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Physical Injury

In Victoria, and to some extent Australia, the last two decades have seen some clarification in the classification of the various forms of child maltreatment and abuse. Currently, the major recognised forms of child abuse are acknowledged as being:• physical abuse or non-accidental physical injury;• sexual abuse and exploitation;• emotional/psychological abuse; and• neglect.

scholarly journals Association of Housing Stress With Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
pp. 152483802093913
Author(s):  
Caroline E. Chandler ◽  
Anna E. Austin ◽  
Meghan E. Shanahan
Keyword(s):  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Material Hardship ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Stress Indicators ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Established Risk Factor ◽  
Significant Public Health

Child maltreatment is a significant public health issue in the United States. Understanding key risk factors for child maltreatment is critical to informing effective prevention. Poverty is an established risk factor for child maltreatment. However, recent research indicates that material hardship (i.e., difficulties meeting basic needs) may serve as a more direct measure of the way in which poverty affects daily life. One form of material hardship that is common among families is housing stress. Previous reviews have summarized the existing literature regarding the association of economic insecurity with child maltreatment, but no reviews have synthesized and critically evaluated the literature specific to the association of various types of housing stress with child maltreatment. We conducted a systematic search of multiple electronic databases to identify peer-reviewed studies conducted in the U.S. regarding the association of housing stress with child maltreatment. We identified 21 articles that used nine distinct measures of housing stress including homelessness or eviction, homeless or emergency shelter stays, foreclosure filing, housing instability, inadequate housing, physical housing risk, living doubled-up, housing unaffordability, and composite housing stress indicators. Overall, results from this body of literature indicate that housing stress is associated with an increased likelihood of caregiver or child self-reported maltreatment, child protective services (CPS) reports, investigated and substantiated CPS reports, out-of-home placements, and maltreatment death. Additional theory-driven research is needed to further our understanding of the contribution of specific types of housing stress to risk for specific types of maltreatment.

Child Abuse and Neglect

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan J. Wells ◽  
Geoff Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Child Abuse And Neglect ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
International Data ◽  
Definition Of

The true extent of child abuse and neglect is unknown but reports to state agencies indicate over 3 million reports concerning maltreatment of over 6 million children are made each year. Confirmed reports involved over 679,000 children in 2013. Yet, only 32% of the children known to be harmed by maltreatment in the community are investigated by child protective services. The perplexing dilemma in surveillance and service delivery is how to identify those who need help without spuriously including those who do not. This entry focuses on the definition of maltreatment and provides an overview of the history, etiology, and consequences of child abuse and neglect as well as the current trends and dilemmas in the field. To afford some perspective for the reader, some international data and information are provided.

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