Family support services reduce the demand for emergency child removals at the community level

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study design. Authors’ own fabrication.

Table 1. Variables.

	Min	Max	Mean	St. Deviation	N	Missing values n (%)
Dependent variable
Emergency removals	0.00	614.81	15.07	48.68	292	(0.0%)
Independent variables
Notifications	1.03	19.23	6.99	2.27	292	0 (0.0%)
Family support services	0.70	15.83	4.49	2.28	282	10 (3.4%)
Confounding variables
Investigations	77.55	100.00	97.36	3.73	292	0 (0.0%)
Preventive family services	0.00	32.30	3.58	3.09	267	25 (8.6%)
The size of child protection system (in order from the smallest municipality to the largest)	1	292	147.27	85.18	292	0 (0.0%)
Population under 18 years of age	81.69	108 496.09	3600.86	9096,70	292	0 (0.0%)

Table 2. Correlations between the variables (Pearson Correlation Coefficients).

Variable		Emergency child removals	Notifications	Investigations	Family support services	Preventive family services	Size of the child protection system	Population under 18
Emergency child removals	Correlation	1
	N	291
Child welfare notifications	Correlation	.108	1
	N	291	292
Investigations	Correlation	.035	−.046	1
	N	291	292	292
Family support	Correlation	−.231***	.445***	−.057	1
	N	281	282	282	282
Preventive services	Correlation	−.205**	.040	−.056	.088	1
	N	266	267	267	261	267
Size of the child protection system	Correlation	.921***	.055	.071	−.259***	−.245***	1
	N	291	292	292	282	267	292
Population under 18 years of age	Correlation	.635***	.092	.033	−.039	−.066	.477***	1
	N	291	292	292	282	267	292	292

*<.050, **<.010, ***<.001.

Figure 2. The direct and indirect effects. Confounding variable: Investigations, preventive family services, and children under 18 years of age, (N = 292). *<.050, **<.010, ***<.001.

Table 3. Moderation by family support (all variables that define the product were centred).

		Coeff.	SE (HC3)	t	p
Constant	i	1.107	1.177	.941	.348
Notifications	b1	.078	.022	3,593	.000
Family support	b2	−.067	.020	−3.327	.001
Interaction 1	b3	−.025	.006	−4.064	.000
Investigations	b4	−.011	.012	−.888	.375
Preventive family services	c1	−.043	.011	−3.999	.000
Population under 18 years of age	c2	.0004	.012	−.888	.000
		R^2 = .728, N = 260 F(4,279) = 20,35, MSE = .383, p < .001

Figure 3. Effect of child welfare notifications on emergency child removals by family support services.

Figure 4. Conditional effect of child welfare notifications on emergency child removals as a function of family support services.