Browsing by Subject "Child protection"

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    Disentangling over-representation of parents with disabilities in the child welfare system: Exploring child maltreatment risk factors of parents with disabilities
    (Children and Youth Services Review, 2014-12) Lightfoot, Elizabeth; Slayter, Elspeth
    The study explores the risk factors for child maltreatment and self-reported child maltreatment among a population-based sample of parents with disabilities. Drawing on a nationally-representative, population-based data file that oversampled people of color, income-adjusted odds ratio tests were conducted to establish population differences among parents with and without limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs). Results suggest that parents with disabilities were more likely to report many of the risk factors associated with child maltreatment than parents without disabilities, including witnessing interpersonal violence as a child; experiencing violence, neglect or a foster care stay as a child; mood or substance use disorders; and engaging in or receiving interpersonal violence as an adult. Before controlling for income, parents with disabilities had only a negligibly higher rate of engaging in violence against their children. After controlling for income, parents with disabilities were 2.5 times more likely to engage in violence against their children. Parents with disabilities who did engage in violence against their children had greater amounts of some of the child maltreatment risk factors in comparison to parents with disabilities who did not engage in violence, particularly their own childhood experiences of maltreatment, witnessing of interpersonal violence as a child, childhood stays in foster care, and experiences with interpersonal violence as an adult. Findings add to the understanding of the risk factors for child maltreatment that are related to the collateral effects of having a disability, and through the use of income-adjusted data, help disentangle why parents with disabilities are over-represented in the child welfare system. The findings highlight the need for the child welfare system to increase its disability competence in working with both children and parents with disabilities.
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    Methamphetamine-involved parenting and the risk of child maltreatment: Family experiences and the child welfare response
    (2015-12) Kincaid, Tamara
    In the last two decades, methamphetamine-involved parenting has presented some unique challenges to child protective services social workers. In order for social workers to effectively intervene with these families, we must understand the experiences of those who have lived through this phenomenon. This mixed-methods study uses qualitative interviews of parents and children to identify maltreatment risks to which the children were exposed, and the parenting strengths that mitigated those risks. Quantitative measures of parent and child psychosocial functioning were used to understand the context of the risks and subsequent outcomes for family members. The typical child welfare response is described utilizing risk assessment tools. Family members described between 11 and 21 child maltreatment risks to which the children had been exposed. While the children as a group averaged near normal in psychosocial functioning measures, older female children seemed to demonstrate the most negative effects. The majority of parents scored in clinically significant ranges for both physical and mental health problems. At the same time, many of the family members were able to describe instances when the parents made efforts to protect their children from maltreatment risks. Overall, this study points to opportunities for child protection interventions to focus on strengths of parents to protect their children from the child maltreatment risks due to methamphetamine-involved parenting.