Service utilization and association with recurrences of child maltreatment post-reunification

ABSTRACT

About 30% of children referred to child protective services each year in the US experience recurring maltreatment. Maltreatment has been linked to a myriad of negative developmental outcomes for children, such as externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Yet, few studies have examined services to prevent recurrences of maltreatment among reunified children. Utilizing data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being II (NSCAW II), the objective of this study was to investigate types of services that decreased recurrences of child maltreatment post-reunification. The sample included n = 1,168 children who were in out-of-home care at Wave One (2008) and had reunified at Wave Two (2009–2010). These children were followed for 18 months (2011–2012) to compare to those who experienced a substantiated recurrence of child maltreatment after reunification to those who did not. Survival analysis was conducted with time to recurrence as the outcome variable. Results suggest that about one in five children experienced recurrences of maltreatment during the first 18 months of reunification. Rates of parental service utilization were high (63%). Adjusting for covariates, only out-of-home prevention services (HR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.24–0.75, p <.01) was negatively associated with recurrences of maltreatment. Implications for research, practice, as well as limitations, are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Recurrence
• child maltreatment
• child protective services
• service utilization
• reunification

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine A. LaBrenz

Catherine LaBrenz, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work. Dr. LaBrenz received her Masters in Social Work from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin. Guided by her experience as a social work practitioner with families involved in child protective services, her research focuses on family-centered interventions to increase family resilience and decrease child maltreatment. Dr. LaBrenz has authored or co-authored several publications related to child welfare, adverse childhood experiences, and permanence via reunification or adoption.

Philip Baiden

Philip Baiden, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, School of Social Work. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto in Canada, a Master of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Philosophy from the University of Ghana in Accra, Ghana. Dr. Baiden has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed publications in the areas of suicidal behaviors, adverse childhood experiences, bullying victimization, and adolescent health risk behaviors.

Monica Faulkner

Dr. Monica Faulkner is a Research Associate Professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin and the Director and co-founder of the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing. Dr. Faulkner holds Bachelor degrees in Government and Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Houston. She received her PhD in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010. As a social worker, Dr. Faulkner has worked as an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and as a case manager for children in foster care. Dr. Faulkner also worked in the Texas Legislature focusing on policy issues related to health and human services for two legislative sessions. Currently, Dr. Faulkner uses her research expertise to build evidence for interventions and policies that improve the lives of marginalized populations of youth and families. She specializes in program evaluations related to child maltreatment prevention, foster care, and adolescent sexual health. She has also conducted original research related to undocumented Latino parents, permanency of foster youth, and educational outcomes of foster youth.

Rowena Fong

Rowena Fong, Ed.D., is the founding co-chair of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare’s Grand Challenges Executive Committee and the Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative. She has served nationally as a past president of the Society for Social Work and Research (2009-2013) and is an inaugural Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. A former member of the Children’s Bureau’s, Child Welfare Evaluation Workgroup, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Fong served as a board member of the North American Council on Adoptable Children and the National Advisory Board of In-Home Services. Dr. Fong has written books about racial disproportionality, child neglect, transracial and intercountry adoptions and has over 100 publications.