Child Maltreatment

Traditionally, the American child welfare system intervenes in cases of evident and severe maltreatment. Families in need of help, but who have not reached a crisis, are excluded from typical services. Some suggest that if these families were served, few would be rereferred to the child welfare system. California’s Differential Response (DR) has three tracks, of which ‘‘Track 1’’ targets families screened out of child protective services (CPS) and refers them to agencies that provide voluntary, home-based services and referrals. This study examined child-welfare trajectories for families receiving Track 1 DR services in one California county. Using survival analysis, treatment group children (N = 134) were compared to children eligible for services but denied due to program capacity (comparison group N = 511). Findings suggest no statistically significant differences between groups on the likelihood of a re-report following program participation, timing of maltreatment reports, or r...

Neglect is a serious form of maltreatment. It is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs resulting in serious impairment of heath and/or
development (Turney & Tanner 2005). Neglect has harmful consequences in the short and long term and it can be fatal. In practice, neglect exists as a continuum ranging from reactive and short term to chronic and severe neglect (ibid.). Although relatively little attention has been paid to neglect in terms of research and policy, existing research challenges the common misconception that neglect is not as serious as other forms of child maltreatment.

Neglect is a complex phenomenon that is difficult to define. In the face of pluralistic notions of what constitutes adequate care, defining children’s needs and determining what constitutes neglect has been problematic. The lack of clarity around what child neglect means and includes has practical implications. As most neglectful families have complex needs, interventions frequently entail responses from different service providers.
Practitioners’ understandings of neglect, however, are often shaped by different professional backgrounds and can vary within and across different services. This can contribute to vital pieces of information in neglect cases not being picked up, information being lost or not being effectively communicated across different agencies. An effective interagency approach is indispensable for successfully intervening in cases of child neglect and in safeguarding children.

This book collates and brings together the available information on CSA in the Arab region, as well as efforts to address the multiple types of CSAET and respond to the expanding burden of its diverse presentations. The purpose of the book is to show the quality of the work already done and the terrible plight of CSAET on children.

This article examines the separate but sometimes overlapping foci of domestic violence (DV) and child protection services. When these sectors interact, the resulting tension becomes part of a complex dialectic and multiple opposing propositions that are explored here with respect for how they affect practice. A review of 30 years of DV discourse leads to systematic examinations of the DV literature for battered women, mental health, children, and offenders. The article proposes a radical shift by pairing a harm reduction approach with an evidence-based practice model when DV and child protection intersect. The implications of Stage of Change theory are considered in relationship to the harm reduction approach. [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 7:345–363 (2007)]

This study advances the research on decision-making concerning child maltreatment by providing descriptions of both the process and outcome of therapist decision-making. Results indicated that decision-making about child maltreatment involves therapist-specific factors such as worldview assumptions, ethical principles, and prior clinical and life experience; situational factors including the type and severity of abuse, the amount of evidence presented, and client

Although parental substance abuse has been identified as a risk factor for poor foster care outcomes, current research on effective interventions is limited. A few studies have shown that parenting interventions improved parenting skills and family functioning and decreased time to reunification among children in foster care due to parental substance abuse. However, more research is needed to evaluate whether these interventions positively impact reentry rates. Using propensity score analyses to establish a matched comparison group, survival analyses evaluated the relationship between participation in a parenting intervention, the Strengthening Families Program (SFP), and reentry among a sample of 493 children previously reunified with their parents. The overall reentry rate was 20.9%. Analyses indicated that there was no difference in reentry rates between the SFP (23.7%) and comparison groups (18.6%). Significant predictors of reentry were child behavior problems, family poverty, ...

Scientific and gendered analyses of 'child abuse' have been carried out largely separate from one another. The scientific evidence base finds significant gender differences for victims and perpetrators of child sexual abuse and similarities in physical and emotional abuse and neglect. Gendered analyses draw on these findings to support evidence for male dominance in sexual relations and interpret the equivocal

Background: Little is known about the relationship between stressful life events and alcohol craving in the general population, and whether a history of childhood maltreatment sensitizes individuals to crave alcohol after adult stressors.
Methods: Participants were 22,147 past-year drinkers from Wave 2 (2004 to 2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. A structured, face-to-face interview assessed past-year stressful life events, alcohol craving, and history of childhood maltreatment. Logistic regres- sion was used to generate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) to evaluate the relationship between stressful life events and craving, adjusting for demographic characteristics and parental history of alcoholism. Inter- action between stressful life events and childhood maltreatment was also assessed.
Results: Compared to participants with no stressful life events, those with ≥3 events had increased odds of moderate alcohol craving (aOR = 3.15 [95% CI = 2.30 to 4.33]) and severe craving (aOR = 8.47 [95% CI = 4.78 to 15.01]). Stressful life events and childhood maltreatment interacted in predicting severe craving (p = 0.017); those with ≥3 events were at higher risk of craving if they had been exposed to childhood maltreatment.
Conclusions: A direct relationship between stressful life events and risk of alcohol craving was observed. Further, history of childhood maltreatment increased the salience of stressful life events in adulthood. Future studies should examine the role of psychiatric comorbidity in more complex models of stress sensitization and alcohol craving.

Background Decades of evidence link adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to worse health. Despite disproportionate rates of ACEs and health disparities in tribal communities, a gap exists in understanding the effects of ACEs on American Indian (AI) health. The purpose of this study is to estimate frequencies of eight categories of ACEs, assess the risk for internalizing symptoms by each ACE category, and determine if moderate and high levels of ACEs exposures have differential, increasing risk associated with internalizing symptoms for a sample of AI adults with T2D. Methods Five tribal communities participated in a community-based participatory research study. Data from AI adults with T2D were analyzed (N = 192). Frequencies of eight childhood events and situations were assessed, and exposure levels of low (0-1), moderate (2-3), and high levels (4 +) of ACEs were calculated. Odds of screening positive for depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) by each ACE type and moderate and high levels of ACEs were estimated using regression analyses. Results Relative to other studies, exposure estimates for each of the eight ACE categories and moderate and high levels of ACEs were high. Sexual and physical abuse, neglect, and household mental illness were positively associated with depressive symptoms , and physical abuse was positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Exposures to moderate and high levels of ACEs were associated with increased odds of screening positive for current depression in a dose-response fashion. A high level of ACEs exposure was also associated with an increased odds of a positive GAD screening. Conclusions This research extends limited knowledge about ACEs and health among AIs. More research is needed to understand the health consequences of ACEs for a population exhibiting health inequities. Components of strategies for addressing ACEs, mental health, T2D complications, and comorbidities are proposed for AIs generally and AI adults with T2D specifically.

Although the term attachment disorder is ambiguous, attachment therapies are increasingly used with children who are maltreated, particularly those in foster care or adoptive homes. Some children described as having attachment disorders show extreme disturbances. The needs of these children and their caretakers are real. How to meet their needs is less clear. A number of attachment-based treatment and parenting approaches purport to help children described as attachment disordered. Attachment therapy is a young and diverse field, and the benefits and risks of many treatments remain scientifically undetermined. Controversies have arisen about potentially harmful attachment therapy techniques used by a subset of attachment therapists. In this report, the Task Force reviews the controversy and makes recommendations for assessment, treatment, and practices. The report reflects American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children's (APSAC) position and also was endorsed by the Amer...

The original thinking behind permanency planning for foster children was to secure a caregiver’s intention to provide a permanent home, not to guarantee it. Little is known, however, about how intentions change after permanence or what effect this change has on post-permanency continuity of care. This study examined the mediating effects of caregivers’ thoughts about ending an adoption or guardianship, and how this mechanism may be contingent on primordial and bureaucratic factors that child welfare agencies rely on to ensure family continuity after legal permanence. In 2006, a sample of 346 Illinois caregivers who finalized an adoption or guardianship between 1998 and 2002 completed surveys about child behavior problems, the adequacy of financial assistance, and thoughts about maintaining the permanency relationship. Responses were linked to administrative data that tracked
continuity of care through 2012. Simple mediation and moderated mediation hypotheses of the effects of caregiver thoughts on post-permanency continuity were tested. At last
observation, 8% of caregivers were no longer living with the child or stopped receiving subsidies on the child’s behalf. Thoughts expressed at survey time about ending the
permanency relationship mediated the effect of child behavior problems on post-permanency discontinuity rates. This indirect effect was more pronounced among distantly related kin,
lone caregivers, and caregivers who felt the subsidy was inadequate to cover their expenses. Our findings suggest that post-permanency services should target a narrow segment of
caregivers who express weakened permanency commitments that arise from the challenges of parenting a child with multiple behavioral problems.

The objective of this paper is to frame, understand, and draw implications from existing research on families screened out by child protective services (CPS) after a referral alleging child maltreatment. We review descriptive and outcome data together with emerging intervention research amidst a developing consensus that the current reactive role of CPS should be supplemented by supportive and preventative services that primarily address poverty. State-level data indicate that screened-out families are at high risk of re-referral and similar to higher risk families reported to CPS. Intervention research is scant and mixed, but there is indication that providing community-based services may reduce future CPS involvement. Considering that screened-out referrals present an opportunity to prevent future maltreatment, CPS should identify and collaboratively engage screened-out families in community-based services. More research on the outcomes of these community responses is needed to identify best practices related to engagement and service provision.

This paper aims to explore relationship between childhood maltreatment histories and denial of male adolescent offenders who are imprisoned for violent criminal behaviors. The study group consists of 235 male adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 in stanbul Bayrampa a H Type Prison affiliated to the Ministry of Justice. According to the results, one hundred and thirty-seven children have child abuse and neglect (CAN) histories and there is no significant relationship between violent criminal behavior and being exposed to CAN. However, responses of adolescents indicate that they tend to deny CAN histories when being asked direct questions regarding violence compared to indirect questions. Additionally, the results of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ)'s Minimization/Denial subscale show that 71% of the study group has sufficient scores for possible underreporting of maltreatment. This study can provide guidance to clinicians, who are going to conduct a study on adolescents with maltreatment histories, regarding possible tendency of denial.

Maltreated and child welfare-involved youth are over-represented in juvenile justice systems. These youth are at a greater risk of serious offending and justice system entrenchment relative to their non-maltreated peers. Understanding gender differences in the pathways to justice involvement and the nature of offending among maltreated children is critical for informing policy and practice. Yet, this body of evidence is fragmented. This scoping review identified and narratively synthesized evidence from studies reporting on gender differences in the individual characteristics, maltreatment experiences, child protection involvement and offending profiles of maltreated youth who offend. A comprehensive search of four databases generated 11,568 publications, from which 180 met the review's inclusion criteria. These primary studies included participants aged 8-21 years with a history of childhood maltreatment and youth offending and reported at least one gendered analysis. Some consistent findings were reported across studies. A greater level of child welfare involvement and maltreatment exposure (particularly sexual abuse and multi-type maltreatment) was found for justice involved girls, relative to boys. Maltreated and child welfareinvolved boys appear more likely to offend than girls, but findings about how gender moderates the maltreatment-offending relationship were inconsistent. Child welfare systems involvement (particularly foster care and residential care) appeared to be an important moderator for girls, and school performance mediated outcomes for boys. Across this body of evidence, few studies accounted for under-reporting of abuse and neglect when using youth self-report measures of maltreatment. Future research is needed which explicitly explores how gender moderates the maltreatment-offending relationship.

The authors utilized hierarchical multiple regression to understand the relationships between complex trauma, family environment, family cohesion, and resilience in 485 young adults aged 18-35. The young adults varied regarding their educational background and experiences with trauma. Results demonstrated that youth with more experiences of complex trauma were associated with lower levels of resilience. However, when they reported strong family environments and family cohesion prior to adulthood, they were more likely to be resilient in young adulthood despite the complex trauma experienced. Hence, family environment and family cohesion appear to be protective factors despite complex trauma exposure. Implications for family counselors working with trauma and resilience building through a systemic lens are discussed.

Abstract Young maltreated children, birth to three years, represent the age group with the highest rates of mal-treatment in the United States (ACYF 2007). There are few studies to date that have investigated early childhood maltreatment and its effects on emotion regulatory pro- ...