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4. Risk Assessment at Time of Investigation
The psychosocial risk factors present for a child and family when the case is brought to the attention of CWS are typically used to shape decisions about which children will go on to get formal child welfare services and which will not. The systematic collection and evaluation of child and family characteristics related to child safety is the intended function of risk assessment approaches now used in almost all child welfare jurisdictions (Mitchell et al., in press). NSCAW collected risk-assessment data similar to what are often used in child welfare practice, as well as information about how the child welfare workers weighted that information to make decisions. This information can contribute to understanding the mechanisms by which risk-assessment information is turned into service pathways. This chapter examines, by child setting, the presence of 25 risk factors, in 8 categories, as determined by the child welfare worker at the time of the investigation. Which of these factors are deemed as most critical in guiding the outcome of the case is analyzed, as well as the child welfare worker's assessment that the child would experience another report of abuse or neglect in the near future based on various levels of service provision. Over time, this study will provide further information from the child welfare worker's appraisal of the parent, home, and child characteristics. In addition, we will see how those appraisals are related to case decision-making and, ultimately, how these factors and decisions are related to child and family outcomes.
The longitudinal design of NSCAW will eventually allow for the study of the relationship of risk-assessment items to future decisions. At intake, the most important contribution of the data is to help identify the characteristics of the population coming to the attention of child welfare agencies, in order to determine what services might be designed to best address their current situations.
4.1 Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is a set of procedures used to structure information gathering and decision-making regarding child welfare cases. In our survey of child welfare managers, we determined that the vast majority of PSUs use a structured decision-making or risk assessment tool (Mitchell et al., in press). These tools vary considerably. Risk-assessment items that addressed parent, child, and secondary caregiver risks (or protective factors) were taken from these and other tools that have been used for research to help identify salient predictors of child welfare decisions. In addition, the risk assessment section included predictions from child welfare workers about the longer-term outcomes for cases, depending on the type of services provided. Although risk-assessment items ideally are used in order to generate decisions, these instruments were completed for NSCAW well after the case decisions were made and thus may not reflect how these risk factors were used in the decision-making process at the time of the investigation. The risk assessment data are an especially valuable component of the analyses, as they give a sense of the circumstances and climate in the child's home at the time of the investigation and add to our baseline picture of all NSCAW children and families.
4.1.1 History of Child Welfare Services
Prior to completion of the risk-assessment items related to family and child dynamics, child welfare workers were asked the following four questions that may have been significant in determining the child welfare worker's decision in the case: Were there any prior reports of maltreatment to the agency? Was there a prior investigation of abuse or neglect? Was there a prior incident of substantiated abuse or neglect? and Was there any prior child welfare services history, not including investigations? Although it was not specified in the questions administered, it is possible that the family orientation of many child welfare workers could have influenced them to answer questions in a way that would include prior history of the family as a whole, rather than just the study child, so it should be noted that these analyses are more family- than child-specific. This history data is important in understanding families' and children's patterns of involvement with CWS.
According to the investigative workers, approximately half (51%) of all children/families involved with CWS have had prior reports of maltreatment to the agency. The proportion for children in out-of-home care is close to two-thirds (66%), which is significantly higher (p < .001) than the proportion for children remaining at home (49%). Within the in-home subpopulation, children/families receiving child welfare services (59%) are significantly more likely to have had prior reports of maltreatment than children/families not receiving services (46%; p < .001). These findings are consistent with what might be expected, with children and families who have experienced prior reports of maltreatment receiving higher levels of service, including placement of the child out of the home. Also to be expected due to the child's age, children aged 2 and younger and their families are significantly less likely than children in all other age groups and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment to the agency, both overall and for children remaining at home (p < .001). There were no significant differences based on race/ethnicity with regard to prior reports of maltreatment (Table 4-1).
Recognizing that not all reports result in investigations, we next asked child welfare workers who indicated prior reports of maltreatment if there were prior investigations of abuse or neglect. Overall, 94% of all children/families with prior reports of maltreatment also had prior investigations of abuse or neglect. (Based on the assumption that a report would necessarily precede an investigation, this item was asked only in cases where a prior report was indicated. If this 94% were applied to the entire NSCAW population, it would indicate that 48% of the children had a prior investigation of abuse or neglect.) This proportion did not differ significantly based on child setting or age; however, children of other races/ethnicities and their families were found to be significantly more likely than White children and their families, both overall and for children remaining at home, to have prior investigations of abuse or neglect (Table 4-2). The very high proportion of prior investigations may, in part, be due to agency administrative practices that may cause reports that are screened out (and not investigated) or investigated (but not substantiated) to be difficult to access. That is, some or all reports are not kept in the records unless they result in investigations.
When child welfare workers indicated that there was a prior investigation of abuse or neglect, they were then asked about the presence of prior incidents of substantiated abuse or neglect. Over half (55%) of the children/families with prior investigations had prior incidents of substantiated abuse or neglect. As with the item on prior reports of maltreatment, children in out-of-home care and their families are significantly more likely (p < .001) than those remaining at home to have prior incidents of substantiated abuse or neglect (71% vs. 52%). There is also a trend (p = .05) within the subpopulation of children remaining at home for children/families receiving services to be more likely than children/families not receiving child welfare services to have prior incidents of substantiated abuse or neglect. There are no significant differences on this item based on age or race/ethnicity (Table 4-3).
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | ||||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home | |||
| Percent^/ (SE) | |||||||||
| Age | 0-2 | 37.6 a b c (2.7) |
28.7 (3.8) |
44.0 (3.7) |
32.8 d e f (3.0) |
72.1 (3.6) |
48.7 (8.1) |
--- | 61.1 (4.2) |
| 3-5 | 54.5 (3.3) |
51.7 (4.3) |
60.5 (5.3) |
54.2 (3.4) |
49.7 (10.8) |
60.4 (15.7) |
--- | 59.7 (9.9) |
|
| 6-10 | 50.9 (2.3) |
45.4 (3.4) |
62.4 (4.5) |
49.3 (2.5) |
64.7 (5.5) |
67.1 (9.7) |
79.9 (14.3) |
66.9 (5.6) |
|
| 11+ | 58.4 (3.0) |
53.5 (5.2) |
62.3 (4.1) |
56.1 (3.8) |
77.3 (6.6) |
81.2 (6.1) |
71.5 (12.5) |
73.2 (6.0) |
|
| Race/ Ethnicity | African American | 53.0 (2.9) |
46.1 (4.0) |
61.0 (4.7) |
50.4 (3.3) |
71.4 (9.3) |
67.2 (9.0) |
72.0 (9.8) |
69.9 (4.8) |
| White | 51.8 (1.9) |
47.2 (2.8) |
60.1 (3.7) |
50.5 (2.1) |
67.3 (5.2) |
60.4 (9.4) |
68.5 (15.7) |
62.9 (4.7) |
|
| Hispanic | 46.3 (3.5) |
43.2 (4.2) |
49.5 (4.1) |
44.8 (3.5) |
64.7 (15.4) |
55.2 (7.8) |
87.6 (9.3) |
62.6 (8.6) |
|
| Other | 49.1 (4.5) |
39.6 (6.9) |
61.4 (8.8) |
45.7 (5.3) |
74.8 (11.1) |
80.1 (10.6) |
83.7 (14.5) |
78.1 (6.3) |
|
| TOTAL | 50.9 (1.5) |
45.6 h (2.1) |
58.6 (2.3) |
49.1 g (1.6) |
69.0 (3.5) |
63.2 (6.8) |
72.5 (9.7) |
66.2 (3.3) |
|
|
a Children age 3-5 and their families are significantly more likely than children aged 0-2 and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment (X2 = 22.1, p < .001). (back) b Children age 6-10 and their families are significantly more likely than children aged 0-2 and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment (X2 = 12.7, p < .001). (back) c Children age 11+ and their families are significantly more likely than children aged 0-2 and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment (X2 = 32.5, p < .001). (back) d Children age 3-5 remaining at home and their families are significantly more likely than children aged 0-2 remaining at home and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment (X2 = 28.1, p < .001). (back) e Children age 6-10 remaining at home and their families are significantly more likely than children aged 0-2 remaining at home and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment (X2 = 16.0, p < .001). (back) f Children age 11+ remaining at home and their families are significantly more likely than children aged 0-2 remaining at home and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment (X2 = 25.2, p < .001). (back) g Children in out-of-home care and their families are significantly more likely than children remaining at home and their families to have prior reports of maltreatment (X2 = 20.6, p < .001). (back) |
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | ||||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home^^ | |||
| Percent^/ (SE) | |||||||||
| Age | 0-2 | 92.8 (2.0) |
91.3 (3.7) |
94.4 (1.9) |
92.4 (2.5) |
97.8 (1.2) |
86.7 (6.9) |
--- | 93.8 (3.1) |
| 3-5 | 93.6 (3.5) |
91.1 (5.4) |
97.9 (1.0) |
93.2 (3.8) |
97.4 (2.1) |
99.3 (0.7) |
--- | 98.9 (0.7) |
|
| 6-10 | 93.5 (2.0) |
92.5 (3.3) |
97.3 (1.6) |
93.9 (2.4) |
79.9 (13.0) |
99.3 (0.5) |
--- | 90.9 (6.6) |
|
| 11+ | 94.2 (2.0) |
92.9 (3.2) |
95.0 (1.8) |
93.7 (2.2) |
94.0 (5.9) |
99.6 (0.4) |
94.2 (4.2) |
96.7 (2.2) |
|
| Race/ Ethnicity | African American | 93.3 (2.6) |
93.0 (4.9) |
95.5 (1.9) |
93.9 (3.2) |
86.4 (9.2) |
92.1 (5.0) |
100 | 90.7 (5.2) |
| White | 93.8 a (1.6) |
92.1 (2.3) |
96.3 (1.2) |
93.4 b (1.7) |
93.5 (4.5) |
98.9 (1.0) |
95.3 (4.9) |
96.3 (2.1) |
|
| Hispanic | 91.7 (4.0) |
88.6 (6.6) |
97.5 (1.5) |
91.0 (4.4) |
97.6 (2.0) |
96.3 (2.7) |
--- | 96.6 (1.8) |
|
| Other | 98.7 (0.8) |
100 | 98.1 (1.4) |
99.2 (0.6) |
92.1 (7.9) |
100 | --- | 96.3 (3.6) |
|
| TOTAL | 93.6 (1.5) |
92.1 (2.6) |
96.4 (0.8) |
93.5 (1.8) |
91.3 (4.4) |
96.3 (2.0) |
95.9 (2.9) |
94.4 (2.1) |
|
|
a Children of other races/ethnicities and their families are significantly more likely than White children and their families to have prior investigations of abuse or neglect (X2 = 11.0, p ≤ .001). (back) |
Finally, all child welfare workers were asked if, apart from investigations, there was a prior history with CWS. This would include any ongoing in-home services or out-of-home care. Close to one-third (30%) of families being investigated for abuse and neglect also have a known, prior CWS history. Again, this proportion is significantly higher (p < .001) for children in out-of-home care and their families—almost twice that of children remaining at home and their families (53% vs. 27%). A large and significant difference (p < .001) is also present within the subpopulation of children remaining at home, with families receiving child welfare services again more likely to have prior CWS history than families not receiving services (41% vs. 22%). With regard to age, the youngest children are significantly less likely than the oldest children to have prior CWS history, both overall and for children remaining at home; but this would be expected due to the decreased opportunity for such history. There are no significant differences in the presence of prior CWS history based on race/ethnicity (Table 4-4).
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | ||||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home | |||
| Percent^ / (SE) | |||||||||
| Age | 0-2 | 54.9 (4.4) |
51.5 (8.7) |
54.0 (7.1) |
52.5 (5.4) |
59.3 (11.8) |
62.9 (6.7) |
--- | 60.9 (7.9) |
| 3-5 | 46.5 (6.0) |
44.1 (7.0) |
47.7 (9.3) |
45.3 (6.3) |
78.2 (9.1) |
65.3 (11.4) |
--- | 63.7 (9.0) |
|
| 6-10 | 54.8 (4.6) |
46.7 (6.0) |
65.3 (5.8) |
52.5 (4.9) |
87.5 (3.7) |
70.6 (6.3) |
--- | 72.3 (6.8) |
|
| 11+ | 61.6 (4.5) |
56.0 (6.1) |
60.8 (7.6) |
57.7 (4.8) |
86.8 (4.6) |
82.5 (8.2) |
89.6 (5.6) |
79.4 (7.7) |
|
| Race/ Ethnicity | African American | 58.3 (4.7) |
53.6 (6.8) |
58.9 (6.9) |
55.6 (5.1) |
83.8 (4.9) |
65.7 (7.9) |
80.4 (10.7) |
70.3 (6.4) |
| White | 52.7 (3.5) |
46.0 (5.3) |
56.9 (5.9) |
49.5 (3.8) |
82.3 (4.5) |
72.4 (5.9) |
60.8 (25.7) |
75.3 (5.0) |
|
| Hispanic | 58.5 (8.2) |
58.2 (10.0) |
60.0 (12.2) |
58.7 (9.5) |
43.2 (21.4) |
72.6 (13.5) |
--- | 56.8 (12.6) |
|
| Other | 46.6 (9.7) |
26.9 (10.4) |
60.9 (13.8) |
41.3 (11.2) |
59.7 (7.1) |
87.0 (11.7) |
--- | 72.4 (7.8) |
|
| TOTAL | 54.8 (2.6) |
48.9 (3.6) |
58.3 (3.9) |
52.1 a (2.9) |
74.9 (6.2) |
71.5 (3.6) |
66.9 (16.1) |
70.6 (3.9) |
|
|
|
A logistic regression controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and child setting confirmed bivariate results that the oldest children are significantly more likely than the youngest children to have prior CWS history. Further, children remaining at home with services are significantly more likely than children remaining at home with no services to have prior CWS history. In addition, the model results indicated that children in each of the out-of-home placement types are significantly more likely (p < .001 for all three placement types) than children remaining at home with no services to have had prior CWS history (Table 4-5). A similar regression run (not shown) using “in-home services” as the reference group for the child setting variable further indicated that children in foster homes are significantly more likely than
children remaining at home with services and their families to have had prior CWS history (OR = 2.55, CI = 1.72, 3.79; p < .001).
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | ||||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home | |||
| Percent^/ (SE) | |||||||||
| Age | 0-2 | 26.9 c (2.1) |
15.2 (2.2) |
37.8 (3.8) |
21.5 d (2.0) |
69.9 (5.3) |
35.3 (5.1) |
--- | 53.9 (5.0) |
| 3-5 | 30.9 (4.1) |
25.2 (4.7) |
41.8 (7.9) |
30.0 (4.5) |
56.2 (8.8) |
43.6 (14.7) |
--- | 44.6 (9.7) |
|
| 6-10 | 27.6 (2.9) |
20.5 (3.5) |
39.4 (4.4) |
24.9 (2.9) |
55.8 (6.0) |
55.4 (8.7) |
21.5 (13.5) |
53.4 (5.8) |
|
| 11+ | 34.7 (3.4) |
26.6 (4.5) |
43.4 (6.7) |
31.6 (3.6) |
58.8 (9.5) |
52.9 (9.0) |
86.7 (5.1) |
54.6 (5.6) |
|
| Race/ Ethnicity | African American | 34.4 (3.8) |
27.5 (5.4) |
41.8 (5.8) |
31.8 (4.3) |
56.7 (3.5) |
49.5 (7.3) |
72.7 (12.7) |
51.0 (4.1) |
| White | 30.2 (2.4) |
22.2 (2.5) |
42.6 (4.2) |
27.5 (2.3) |
60.3 (5.7) |
46.4 (8.3) |
63.4 (17.5) |
52.6 (4.1) |
|
| Hispanic | 22.8 (4.7) |
15.8 (5.1) |
30.4 (4.9) |
19.3 (4.5) |
82.0 (6.6) |
35.7 (7.7) |
97.9 (1.8) |
57.5 (6.7) |
|
| Other | 28.6 (5.2) |
16.6 (5.0) |
47.5 (10.4) |
25.7 (5.5) |
52.3 (11.8) |
58.0 (18.7) |
--- | 57.0 (9.5) |
|
| TOTAL | 29.9 (2.0) |
22.0 b (2.5) |
40.7 (3.2) |
27.0 a (2.1) |
61.7 (3.3) |
46.6 (5.7) |
70.1 (11.5) |
53.0 (2.4) |
|
|
a Children in out-of-home care and their families are significantly more likely than children remaining at home and their families to have prior child welfare services history (X2 = 45.3, p < .001). (back) b Children remaining at home with services and their families are significantly more likely than children remaining at home with no services and their families to have prior child welfare services history (X2 = 23.8, p < .001). (back) c Children aged 11+ and their families are significantly more likely than children aged 0-2 and their families to have prior child welfare services history (X2 = 6.2, p ≤ .01). (back) |
Overall, results of these analyses indicate that fairly large proportions of children/families being investigated for maltreatment have had involvement with CWS prior to the current investigation. About half (51%) have had prior reports of maltreatment, one-quarter (25%) have had a prior incident of substantiated abuse or neglect, and close to one-third (30%) have had prior CWS history other than that related to an investigation. Children in out-of-home care and their families are more likely than children remaining at home and their families to have prior reports, substantiations, and other CWS history. Children at home receiving services and their families also have greater prior CWS involvement than children at home not receiving services and their families. The consistency of these findings appears to support the notion of a central
role of prior CWS history in current decision-making—children and families with higher levels of past CWS involvement have a higher level of current service receipt. The child's race/ ethnicity does not appear to be related to prior CWS involvement, and the child's age may only be a factor insofar as increasing age provides more opportunity for CWS involvement. Changes in CWS record keeping that might occur from the implementation of multiple response systems—in which services receipt is not recorded because it is provided following diversion to community agencies—could affect the ability of child welfare agencies to use previous CWS involvement for decision-making.
| OR | 95% CI | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 11+ | (reference group) | |
| 0-2 | .65* | .47, .89 | |
| 3-5 | .91 | .61, 1.36 | |
| 6-10 | .71 | .45, 1.10 | |
| Gender | Female | (reference group) | |
| Male | .90 | .68, 1.18 | |
| Race/ Ethnicity | White | (reference group) | |
| African American | 1.14 | .74, 1.76 | |
| Hispanic | .67 | .37, 1.21 | |
| Other | .89 | .55, 1.44 | |
| Child Setting/ Service | In-home, No Services | (reference group) | |
| In-home, services | 2.39**_i | 1.70, 3.35 | |
| Foster home | 6.10**_ii | 4.30, 8.66 | |
| Kinship care | 2.85**_iii | 1.71, 4.75 | |
| Group home care | 7.40**_iv | 2.84, 19.31 | |
|
Cox and Snell pseudo-R2 is .07 |
4.1.2 Caregiver Risk Factors at Time of Investigation
Child welfare workers were asked about the presence of various risk factors in caregiver's lives at the time of the investigation and whether there was a recent history of certain risk factors; the answers were scored as yes or no. We have categorized the 25 risk items into the following 8 types of risks: substance abuse, cognitive and physical health of the caregivers, parenting, family, violence against the caregiver, risk factors of the secondary caregiver, child characteristics, and cooperation by the caregiver. This section presents the prevalence of these risks, which is important in understanding various aspects of the child's living environment, particularly specific characteristics of the caregiver and family, at the time of the investigation. The reader is reminded that this analysis is based on child welfare workers' perceptions of risks, and may disagree with other data sources that address similar risks or behaviors.
Overall, about 8% of caregivers were identified by the child welfare worker completing the risk assessment as actively abusing alcohol, and 9% of caregivers were classified as actively abusing other drugs at the time of the investigation (Table 4-6). Approximately 12% had a recent history of arrest. Although these may not have been related to substance abuse, we have included them in this group of substance-abuse-related risks because these drug-related arrests predominate among arrests of females (Chilton & Jarvis, 2001) and are also important contributors to child welfare reports (Albert & Barth, 1996). This involvement with substance abuse varies considerably by setting—caregivers of children who remained at home following the investigation and who received in-home services are significantly more likely to have been identified by the child welfare worker as abusing alcohol or other drugs or as having a recent history of arrest than caregivers of children who remained at home and did not receive services (p < .001). Furthermore, caregivers of children who live out of the home are significantly more likely to abuse alcohol or other drugs or have a recent history of arrest than caregivers of children who live at home (p < .001). Caregivers of children in kinship foster care are significantly more likely to abuse drugs or have a recent history of arrest than caregivers of children in foster care or group care.
About 15% of caregivers were identified by child welfare workers as having had a serious mental health problem at the time of the investigation; almost 7% had an intellectual or cognitive impairment, and about 5% had a physical impairment (Table 4-7). The proportion of caregivers with serious mental health problems or an intellectual or cognitive impairment as identified by the child welfare worker is highest among caregivers of children who have been placed outside the home. That is, significantly more caregivers of children placed outside the home have a serious mental health problem (p < .001) or intellectual or cognitive impairment than caregivers of children living at home. In addition, within the subpopulation of children remaining at home, significantly more caregivers of children receiving services have a serious mental health problem (p < .001) or intellectual or cognitive impairment than caregivers of children not receiving services. Finally, for children in out-of-home care, caregivers of children in kinship foster care are significantly more likely than caregivers of children in group care to have a serious mental health problem (p < .001). The proportion of caregivers with physical impairments does not vary significantly by setting.
Many caregivers are seen by child welfare workers as having parenting risk factors, and caregivers of children who live out of the home are much more likely to have parenting risk factors than caregivers of children who live at home (Table 4-8). Overall, about one-third of caregivers had poor parenting skills, almost one-fifth had unrealistic expectations, and slightly less than one-tenth used excessive and/or inappropriate discipline. (Just over one-third of those who used inappropriate discipline were assessed by their child welfare workers as having no motivation to change their use of excessive discipline.) These proportions are much higher among caregivers of children who are placed outside the home, for whom 79% had poor parenting skills, 44% had unrealistic expectations, 19% used excessive and/or inappropriate discipline, and 72% had no motivation to change with regard to their inappropriate discipline, according to the child welfare worker. In addition, caregivers of children receiving in-home services are significantly more likely than caregivers of children not receiving child welfare services to have risk factors of poor parenting skills, unrealistic expectations, and excessive or inappropriate discipline (p < .001).
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | |||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home | ||
| Percent^ / (SE) | ||||||||
| Active alcohol abuse by PCG^^ | 8.2 (0.7) |
3.3 (0.5) |
12.6 a (1.6) |
5.8 (0.6) |
25.4 (3.3) |
36.7 (4.8) |
22.4 (13.0) |
28.7 b (2.5) |
| Active drug abuse by PCG | 9.2 (0.9) |
3.5 (0.8) |
12.1 c (1.3) |
5.8 (0.7) |
36.8 (3.7) |
48.8 d e (4.7) |
8.1 (3.7) |
37.4 f (3.0) |
| PCG recent history of arrest | 12.4 (1.0) |
7.8 (1.1) |
15.6 g (1.5) |
9.9 (1.0) |
30.4 (2.4) |
44.9 h i (5.5) |
12.5 (4.6) |
33.9 j (3.1) |
|
a Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services are significantly more likely to be active alcohol abusers than caregivers of children living at home and not receiving services (X2 = 27.1, p < .001). (back) b Caregivers of children living out of the home are significantly more likely to be active alcohol abusers than caregivers of children at home (X2 = 29.5, p < .001). (back) c Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services are significantly more likely to be active drug abusers than caregivers of children living at home and not receiving services (X2 = 24.6, p < .001). (back) d Caregivers of children living in kinship foster care are significantly more likely to be active drug abusers than caregivers of children living in foster care (X2 = 7.7, p < .01). (back) e Caregivers of children living in kinship foster care are significantly more likely to be active drug abusers than caregivers of children living in group care (X2 = 8.5, p < .01). (back) f Caregivers of children living out of the home are significantly more likely to be active drug abusers than caregivers of children living at home (X2 = 28.0, p < .001). (back) g Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services were significantly more likely to have a recent history of arrest than caregivers of children living at home and not receiving services (X2 = 16.3, p < .001). (back) h Caregivers of children living in kinship foster care are significantly more likely to have a history of recent arrest than caregivers of children living in foster care (X2 = 6.8, p ≤ .01). (back) i Caregivers of children living in kinship foster care are significantly more likely to have a history of recent arrest than caregivers of children living in group care (X2 = 9.1, p < .01). (back) |
Family risk factors were present in many caregivers' lives at the time of investigation (Table 4-9). Over half of the caregivers had no other supportive caregiver, just over half had high stress in the family, close to one-third had low social support, and almost one-quarter had trouble paying for basic necessities. As with the risk factors discussed above, caregivers of children living out of the home are significantly more likely to have experienced each of these family risk factors as identified by the child welfare worker than caregivers of children living at home (p < .001 for high stress in family, low social support, and trouble paying for basic necessities). In addition, caregivers of children receiving services at home are significantly more likely than caregivers of children with closed cases to have experienced high stress in family, low social support, and trouble paying for basic necessities (p < .001).
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | |||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home | ||
| Percent^/ (SE) | ||||||||
| Serious mental health problem | 15.3 (1.4) |
9.4 (1.4) |
22.4 a (2.5) |
12.9 (1.5) |
43.0 (3.9) |
35.8 b (3.7) |
24.5 (6.9) |
35.8 c (2.4) |
| Intellectual or cognitive impairment | 6.9 (0.9) |
5.2 (1.0) |
9.2 d (1.3) |
6.2 (0.9) |
14.8 (3.0) |
11.4 (3.1) |
10.4 (4.1) |
11.7 e (2.0) |
| Any physical impairments | 5.4 (0.6) |
4.5 (0.9) |
6.1 (0.9) |
5.0 (0.7) |
7.7 (2.2) |
10.9 (3.3) |
5.1 (2.3) |
8.2 (1.3) |
|
a Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services are significantly more likely to have a serious mental health problem than caregivers of children living at home and not receiving services (X2 = 29.4, p < .001). (back) b Caregivers of children living in kinship foster care are significantly more likely to have a serious mental health problem than caregivers of children living in group care (X2 = 30.0, p < .001). (back) c Caregivers of children living out of the home are significantly more likely to have a serious mental health problem than caregivers of children living at home (X2 = 30.0, p < .001). (back) d Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services are significantly more likely to have an intellectual or cognitive impairment than caregivers of children living at home and not receiving services (X2 = 6.9, p ≤ .01). (back) |
A high proportion of caregivers have been the subject of violence (Table 4-10). Almost one-third of caregivers had a history of domestic violence, about one-fifth of caregivers had a history of abuse or neglect, and just over one-tenth of caregivers were experiencing domestic violence at the time of the investigation. As with the other risk factors discussed so far, the prevalence of violence against the caregiver as assessed by the child welfare worker is significantly higher among caregivers of children living out of the home than among caregivers of children living at home (p < .001 for history of abuse or neglect against the caregiver and p < .01 for active domestic violence against the caregiver). In addition, the likelihood of history of domestic violence and history of abuse or neglect against the caregiver is significantly greater for caregivers of children receiving in-home services than caregivers of children with closed cases (p < .001 for history of abuse or neglect against the caregiver).
The child welfare worker was also asked about the presence of risk factors in the secondary caregiver's life. At the time of the investigation, 12% of secondary caregivers were said to be actively abusing alcohol, about 9% actively abusing other drugs, and almost 15% using inappropriate or excessive discipline, and about 13% had a history of abuse or neglect (Table 4-11). Caregivers of children who live at home and receive services were significantly more likely to be identified by the child welfare worker as abusing alcohol or other drugs or as having a history of abuse or neglect than caregivers of children who live at home and do not receive services (p < .001 for drug abuse). In addition, caregivers of children who live out of the home were more likely to have the same three risk factors present than caregivers of children who live at home (p < .001 for alcohol abuse and other drug abuse).
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | |||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home | ||
| Percent^/ (SE) | ||||||||
| Poor parenting | 33.2 (1.9) |
20.4 (2.3) |
47.4 a (2.6) |
27.6 (2.0) |
85.3 (2.2) |
79.7 (4.0) |
79.9 (6.7) |
79.1 b (2.3) |
| Unrealistic expectations | 17.4 (1.2) |
9.4 (1.3) |
28.1 c (2.0) |
14.4 (1.2) |
51.7 (3.8) |
35.0 (6.3) |
64.7 (10.9) |
43.6 d (2.6) |
| Excessive/ inappropriate discipline | 8.3 (0.8) |
4.9 (1.2) |
12.9 e (1.6) |
7.0 (0.9) |
23.6 (2.2) |
16.2 (2.5) |
18.7 (6.1) |
18.8 f (1.5) |
| No motivation to change (re: inappropriate discipline) | 35.1 (3.2) |
21.5 (5.7) |
29.3 (4.5) |
25.0 (4.0) |
77.4 (5.2) |
71.8 (8.5) |
81.5 (9.1) |
71.6 g (3.6) |
|
a Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services are significantly more likely to have poor parenting skills than caregivers of children living at home who are not receiving services (X2 = 55.3, p < .001). (back) b Caregivers of children living out of the home are significantly more likely to have poor parenting skills than caregivers of children living at home (X2 = 35.4, p < .001). (back) c Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services are significantly more likely to have unrealistic expectations of their child than caregivers of children living at home and not receiving services (X2 = 46.9, p < .001). (back) d Caregivers of children living out of the home are significantly more likely to have unrealistic expectations of their child than caregivers of children living at home (X2 = 44.7, p < .001). (back) e Caregivers of children living at home and receiving services are significantly more likely to use excessive and/or inappropriate discipline than caregivers of children living at home who are not receiving services (X2 = 13.5, p < .001). (back) f Caregivers of children living out of the home are significantly more likely to use excessive and/or inappropriate discipline than caregivers of children living at home (X2 = 33.3, p < .001). (back) |
Children may have characteristics that put them at increased risk of abuse or neglect. The child welfare workers were asked about the presence of two of those risks: poor ability to self-protect (for children aged 5 and older) and special needs or behavior problems. Overall, 40% of children aged 5 and older had a poor ability to self-protect and 21% were seen as having special needs or behavior problems (Table 4-12). Children who live at home and receive services are significantly more likely to have had these two risks present as assessed by the child welfare worker than children who live at home and do not receive services (p < .001 for special needs or behavior problems). In addition, children who live out of the home are significantly more likely to have had these risks present than children who live at home (p < .001). Finally, children in group care are significantly more likely (p < .001) than both children in foster care and children in kinship foster care to have had special needs or behavior problems at the time of the investigation.
| Characteristic | TOTAL | Setting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Home | Out-of-Home | |||||||
| No Services | Services | TOTAL In-Home | Foster Care | Kinship Foster Care | Group Care | TOTAL Out-of-Home | ||
| Percent^/ (SE) | ||||||||
| No other supportive caregiver | 53.9 (2.2) |
51.9 (2.8) |
53.5 (2.4) |
52.4 (2.4) |
68.1 (4.7) |
66.9 (4.5) |
72.4 (9.5) |
66.6 a (2.8) |
| High stress in family | 51.7 (1.9) |
42.9 (2.4) |
66.1 b (2.3) |
49.2 (2.1) |
74.3 (4.9) |
76.8 (3.7) |
54.4 (12.6) |
73.2 c (2.9) |
| Low social support | ||||||||