State Child Welfare Policies and the Measurement of Child Maltreatment in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 107755952110064
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Day ◽  
Laura Tach ◽  
Brittany Mihalec-Adkins
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
State Policy ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
State Child ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Policies And Practices

State-level child welfare policies and practices affect what can be referred, investigated, and substantiated as child maltreatment, and these institutional factors vary across states and over time. Researchers typically have not accounted for these factors in analyses, confounding institutional features with the underlying construct they seek to study. The present study addresses this limitation by demonstrating how changes in specific state child welfare policies and practices influence reported and substantiated maltreatment in the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). Using negative binomial models with state and year fixed-effects to analyze data from 2005 to 2018, we found significant influence of state policy and practice changes on state-level rates of reported and substantiated maltreatment over time. If a state implemented three of the most common policy changes—adding mandated reporters, centralized intake, and staff—its maltreatment reports were an estimated 32% higher than they would have been in the absence of these changes. By contrast, most state policy changes decreased the number of reports that were substantiated—by 24% if they implemented both differential response and higher standards of proof. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

scholarly journals The Racialized Nature of Child Welfare Policies and the Social Control of Black Bodies

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-281
Author(s):  
Kathi L H Harp ◽  
Amanda M Bunting
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
State Level ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Black Bodies ◽  
Media Reports

Abstract Black women are disproportionately involved in the child welfare system. This state-level intervention occurs at two levels—a higher likelihood of being (i) screened for drug use during pregnancy and (ii) reported to child welfare authorities after delivery. Consequently, they face further enmeshment in state-systems, including custody loss and lower reunification odds. Using evidence from the past forty years of research and media reports, we argue that systemic forces and policies largely contribute to racial disproportionality in the child welfare system, and assert this state intervention serves as a mechanism to control black reproduction.

scholarly journals Defining Child Exposure to Domestic Violence: Lessons from a Historical Review of the Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-180
Author(s):  
Stephanie Howard
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Neglect ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
Child Witnesses ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Child Exposure ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Policies And Practices

Child witnesses of domestic violence policies and practices have been fraught with conceptual challenges that limit their implementation. Such limitations are evident in the case of Minnesota, which amended their definition of child neglect to include a child’s exposure to family violence, only to later repeal this amendment in response to pressure from child welfare administrators and domestic violence advocates (Edleson, Gassman-Pines, & Hill, 2006; Kantor & Little, 2003). The conceptual flaws are also evident in disparities across state statutes for definitions of child witnesses of domestic violence and the legal penalties it carries (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2021). To enhance the integrity of child witnesses of domestic violence policies and practices, critical attention is needed to clarify and refine the central construct. Pursuant to this goal, this conceptual paper analyzes and synthesizes the history of child welfare. It demonstrates how child witnesses of domestic violence became a social and legal problem. The author traces the evolution of child welfare as a concept and provides new insights. The author also sheds light on the driving forces of child welfare policies and practices. The paper begins in the colonial ages, which gave roots to the contemporary child welfare system. The author describes the early development of child welfare leading to contemporary practice. The paper ends by making evidence-based recommendations for constructing child welfare policies that enhance the safety of children exposed to domestic violence using least restrictive interventions.

Closing the Gap

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna C. Mastroianni ◽  
Leslie Meltzer Henry
Keyword(s):  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Closing The Gap ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Policies And Practices

Drawing on the ethical principles of the Belmont Report, this chapter critically examines the legacy and current policies and practices in the United States related to the inclusion of women in clinical research. Historically, protectionist policies and practices excluded women from research participation, justified by, for example, reliance on the male norm, male bias, and fears of legal liability resulting from tragic cases of fetal harm. Recognition of the ensuing harms to women’s health from exclusion and underrepresentation in research led to significant policy changes in the 1990s encouraging women’s participation in research. Although the knowledge gap in women’s health is narrowing, significant challenges remain, including the need to develop robust approaches to defining sex and gender, identifying and analyzing sex and gender differences, and acknowledging and addressing intersectionality and women’s health needs across their life spans.

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.

The Contemporary U.S. Child Welfare System(s): Overview and Key Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-25
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Berger ◽  
Kristen S. Slack
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Child Welfare Services ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Policy Debates

This volume of The ANNALS aims to increase awareness among scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners of the size, scope, and functions of child welfare services in the United States. We aim to promote a wider understanding of the broad impacts of child welfare policies and point to ways in which child welfare services can be better incorporated into cross-cutting social policy debates. The articles in this volume offer concrete recommendations for policies and practices that can reduce child maltreatment, and for systemic approaches—both within the purview of child welfare services and across the broader community and social policy landscape—that can better identify and respond to the needs of children and families in which maltreatment has already occurred or where there is a risk of abuse and neglect. This introduction sets a foundation for understanding the contents of the volume: we provide an overview of child welfare services in the United States and highlight current challenges that the U.S. child welfare systems face.

scholarly journals Family Policy in the United States: State-Level Variation in Policy and Poverty Outcomes from 1980 to 2015

2020 ◽  
pp. 459-483
Author(s):  
Zachary Parolin ◽  
Rosa Daiger von Gleichen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Level Variation ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Medical Spending ◽  
The Social ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis chapter investigates the diversity and divergence of three sets of family policy indicators across the 50 United States: money, services, and time. Our findings show that the 50 United States vary considerably in their family policy packages. States have become more dissimilar over time with respect to social assistance transfers and statutory minimum wages, but have become more similar in their subsidization of low-pay employment. Moreover, states vary greatly in their levels of support for early childhood education and healthcare. State-level variation in out-of-pocket medical spending has more than doubled from 1980 to 2015, in large part due to some states deciding to expand Medicaid access from 2009 onward. Despite large diversity and some divergence in states’ family policy packages, post-tax/transfer poverty rates have remained relatively stable over time. This is partially due to an increase in federally funded transfer programs mitigating the social consequences of state-level diversity.

State-level estimates of the number of volunteer police in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Dobrin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Estimates ◽  
Policies And Practices

To effectively develop and evaluate policing policies and practices, researchers and stakeholders need to know the numbers of volunteer police officers. Limited national estimates exist in the United States, but have shortcomings. This study collects state-level counts of volunteer police from all 50 states (and the District of Columbia), and finds that relying on state-level counts of volunteer police officers is not an effective way of capturing this information. The implications are discussed and a solution is suggested.

Mapping Influence: Partisan Networks across the United States, 2000 to 2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Reuning
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
National Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
State Party ◽  
Over Time

The parties as networks approach has become a critical component of understanding American political parties. Research on it has so far mainly focused on variation in the placement of candidates within a network at the national level. This is in part due to a lack of data on state-level party networks. In this article, I fill that gap by developing state party networks for 47 states from 2000 to 2016 using candidate donation data. To do this, I introduce a backboning network analysis method not yet used in political science to infer relationships among donors at the state level. Finally, I validate these state networks and then show how parties have varied across states and over time. The networks developed here will be made publicly available for future research. Being able to quantify variation in party network structure will be important for understanding variation in party–policy linkages at the state level.

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