Transcript Slide 1

Decision Making in Child
Protection
The Overlap of Welfare, CPS
and Foster Care
Families
served
by CPS
Welfare
Families
Foster
Care
Child welfare and welfare
Frame (1998)
25% of children in new welfare cases in California had
history of involvement with child welfare system.
Shook (1999)
40% of children in foster care were on welfare the month
before placement.
Another 20% on welfare in previous months.
Palmer, Rogers, Digre, & Williams (1997)
70% of child welfare families receiving welfare.
Children new to foster care from welfare
families:
California
Illinois
North Carolina
90%
85%
90%
Source: Needell, Cucaro-Alamin, Brookhard, and Lee (1999)
Foster Care in Los Angeles
97% of foster care children
in Los Angeles come
from homes below the
poverty line
Source: Los Angeles Times (1999)
Neglect, Abuse and
Child Protection
Effectiveness of the Child
Protection System
Key: The decision to remove
a child
The Placement Decision:
reliability
factors which influence:
discriminant analysis
odds ratio models
What happens to 100 children?

.
Income and Placement
.
Income and Neglect (NIS-2)
Incidence of Child
Abuse by Income
Incidence of Child Abuse Fatalities by Income
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
<$15,000
$15,000 - $30,000
$30,000 - $45,000
$45,000+
Source: National Incidence Study-3, 1996.
Family Income and Incidence of Death and Serious
Injury from Child Abuse
State comparisons of types of
neglect and abuse, 2000
Based on data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System
(NCANDS, 2002) and Child and Family Services Review (CFSR, 2003).
Percent of Substantiated Reports that
were Emotional Abuse
Source: Child Welfare Outcome (2003).
Percent of Substantiated Reports that
were Neglect
Source: Child Welfare Outcome (2003); NCANDS (2003).
National Average = 69 %
Percent of Substantiated Reports that
were Physical Abuse
.
National Average = 19 %
Percent of Substantiated Reports that
were Sexual Abuse
.
National Average = 10 %
Australia
Why such variation?
.
On such a sensitive matter is this
type of variation acceptable?
Is the identification of child abuse
more art than science?
What is the incidence of various types
of abuse?
.
Does it vary much by state?
Let’s look at the rate of various types
of substantiated abuse per 10,000
children in the state.
Rate of substantiated Emotional Abuse
per 10,000 children
.
Source: Child Welfare Outcome (2003).
Rate of substantiated Neglect per 10,000
children
.
Source: Child Welfare Outcome (2003).
Rate of substantiated Physical Abuse
per 10,000 children
.
Rate of substantiated Sexual Abuse
per 10,000 children
.
Precision of the Diagnostic Assessment
Or is it a judicial judgment?
Or simply a social worker’s assessment?
Perhaps the question is: What are the consequences
of an error in assessment?
No one’s life is at risk except the children we wish to
protect. The primary goal has to be the protection of
children. But is there a limit?
We began with the question:
the decision to remove
A substantiated finding of “neglect” or “physical
abuse” or “sexual abuse” can lead to removal
of the child from the home.
In fact, the main task of the investigation is to
determine whether to remove the child.
Terminating Parental Rights (TPR) in 2000
Source: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS), April, 2003.