Child Neglect: Statutes, Rates, and a Neglect Diversion Model
Abstract
Child Neglect: Statutes, Rates, and a Neglect Diversion Model
Introduction: Poverty is a correlate if not a cause of child neglect in the US and worldwide (Slack, 2017; WHO & UNICEF,2021,UN 2021). Definitions of child neglect vary widely and include parental omissions and commissions. The purpose of this manuscript is to examine the extent to which poverty exemptions in state statutes (N=15) actually are correlated with “screened out” neglect cases. We then undertake a case study of Vermont, the state in the U.S. with the lowest rate of screened in neglect cases, to explore the extent that the state of Vermont can be seen as a “positive outlier.”
Methods: Using a multi-phase analysis, this article examines US state statutes (2019). Focusing on the 14 states that use poverty and service access qualifiers in their neglect statutes, we compare their neglect rates with states that do not include such qualifiers. We hypothesized that states with poverty exemptions in their statutes would have proportionately fewer neglect cases. The second phase of analysis built off of key informant interviews to help explain findings from phase 1.
Findings: The findings expose the wide variation in neglect percentages across the nation, ranging from 92.2% to 1.5%. Using Vermont as a case study, with the lowest reported neglect rate and only 18 cases screened in for investigation in 2019, we examine explanations for the wide discrepancies nationally. These include the use of an economic firewall with poverty related cases in Vermont being referred to economic support services instead of a CPS investigation, Family Resource Centers, and Differential Response Systems.
Implications and Conclusions: Differentiating child neglect from poverty, creating a national if not a globally standardized definition of neglect could help to better contextualize neglect rates, create poverty related diversion programs, and address race equity agendas. Finally, we offer recommendations to create more innovative practices to address and divert neglect cases to other systems and services that can more appropriately aid children, parents, and whole families.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
References
Addison County PCC. (2020). https://www.addisoncountypcc.org/about_us
Berns R. M. (2007) Child, family, school, community: Socialization and support. 7th ed,
Belmont, CA, Thomson Higher Education
Berns, D., Briar-Lawson, K., &, Kim, W.H. (2013). Addressing poverty as a child welfare
strategy in K. Briar-Lawson, M. McCarthy, & N. Dickinson (Eds.), The Children’s
Bureau: Shaping a century of child welfare practices, programs and policies. 43-58.
Washington D.C.: NASW.
Casey Family Programs. (2020, A). On the pathway of hope. Seattle, Wa: Author.
https://www.casey.org/hope/
Casey Family Programs (2020, B).Communities of hope. Seattle, Wa: Author
https://www.casey.org/who-we-are/2020-building-communities-of-hope/
Children's Defense Fund. (2021). The State of America's Children in Vermont Factsheets.
https://www.childrensdefense.org/state-of-americas-children/soac-2021-factsheets/.
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2016). Racial disproportionality and disparity in child
welfare. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s
Bureau.
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2018). Acts of omission: An overview of child neglect.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Retrieved from: https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/acts.pdf.
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2019). Definitions of child abuse and neglect. Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Coulton, C. J., Crampton, D. S., Irwin, M., Spilsbury, J. C., & Korbin, J. E. (2007). How
neighborhoods influence child maltreatment: a review of the literature and alternative
pathways. Child abuse & Neglect, 31(11-12), 1117–1142. https://doi.org/10.1016
j.chiabu.2007.03.023
Day, E., Tach, L., & Mihalec-Adkins, B. (2021). State Child Welfare Policies and the
Measurement of Child Maltreatment in the United States. Child Maltreatment,
https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595211006464
DeGuerre, K; Briar-Lawson, K. (2020). A typology of child neglect statutes and exploration of
rate variation among states. Albany, NY: University at Albany. School of Social Welfare.
Unpublished Research Report.
Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families,
Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2021). Child
Maltreatment 2019. Available from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/resource/child
maltreatment-2019
Dettlaff, A. J., Weber, K., Pendleton, M., Boyd, R., Bettencourt, B., & Burton, L. (2020). It is not
a broken system, it is a system that needs to be broken: The upEND movement to abolish
the child welfare system. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 1-18.
doi:10.1080/15548732.2020.1814542
Fallon, B., Lefebvre, R., Collin-Vézina, D., Houston, E., Joh-Carnella, N., Malti, T., . & Cash,
S. (2020). Screening for economic hardship for child welfare-involved families during
the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid partnership response. Child Abuse & Neglect, Sept.4.
(epublication) 104706.doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104706
Fong, K. (2020). Getting eyes in the home: Child protective services investigations and
state surveillance of family life. American Sociological Review. 85 (4):610-38. https:
doi.org/10.1177/0003122420938460
Friedman, E., & Billick, S. B. (2014). Unintentional child neglect: Literature review and
observational study. Psychiatric Quarterly, 86(2), 253–259.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-014-9328-0
Grossman, F. K., Spinazzola, J., Zucker, M., & Hopper, E. (2017). Treating adult survivors of
childhood emotional abuse and neglect: A new framework. American Journal of
Orthopsychiatry, 87(1), 86–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000225
Gustafson, K. (2011). Cheating Welfare. New York, USA: New York University Press. https:/
doi.org/10.18574/9780814733394
Houshyar, S. (2014) Poverty and child neglect: What we know and what we need to do first.
Focus on Children. https://firstfocus.org/blog/poverty-and-child-neglect-what-we-know
and-what-we-need-to-do
Johnson Group Consulting (2019). Vermont's home visiting system in context. Report for the
CHINS Reform Workgroup. Vermont.
Lansford, J. E., Godwin, J., Tirado, L. M., Zelli, A., Al-Hassan, S. M., Bacchini, D., Alampay, L.
P. (2015). Individual, family, and culture level contributions to child physical abuse and
neglect: A longitudinal study in nine countries. Development and Psychopathology. 27,
-1428. doi:10.1017/s095457941500084x
LeVine, R. A., Dixon, S., LeVine, S., Richman, A., Leiderman, P. H., Keefer, C. H., et al. (1994).
Child care and culture: Lessons from Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Milner, J. & Kelly, D. (2019/2020, December/January). It is time to stop confusing poverty with
neglect. Children’s Bureau Express. 20(10)
Padilla, J., & Summers, A. (2011). Disproportionality rates for children of color in out of home
care. Reno, NV: National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Pelton, L. H. (1989). For reasons of poverty: A critical analysis of the public child welfare
system in the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Pelton, L.H. (2016). Separating coercion from provision. Child Abuse and Neglect. 51.427-434.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.08.007
Pierce, B., Jaggers, J.W., Bloomquist, K., Teresa M. Imburgia, T.M., Danh,M., Hall J.(2018)
Utilization of concrete services in child welfare: A mixed-method
analysis of a Title IV-E waiver demonstration program, Journal of Public Child Welfare,
(12)2, 153-169, DOI: 10.1080/15548732.2017.1377139
Pryce, J.A., Lee, W., Crowe, E., Park, D., McCarthy, M., & Owens, G. (2019). A case study in
public child welfare: county-level practices that address racial disparity in foster care
placement. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 13, 35 - 59.
Reich, J. A. (2005). Fixing families: Parents, power, and the child welfare system. New York:
Routledge.
Rose, S. & Meezan, W. (1996). Variations in perceptions of child neglect. Child Welfare, 75(2),
-160. PMID: 8901383
Sciamanna, J. (2019). Child Maltreatment 2018 Report shows an increase in child abuse.
Retrieved September, from
https://www.cwla.org/child-maltreatment-2018-report-shows-an-increase-in-
child-abuse/
Sedlak, A.J., Mettenburg, J., Winglee, M., Ciarico, J., and Basena, M. (2010). Fourth national
incidence study of child abuse and neglect (NIS–4): Analysis report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families
Slack, K.S., Berger, L.M., and Noyes, J.L. (2017). Introduction to the special issue on the
economic causes and consequences of child maltreatment. Children and Youth Services
Review, 72, 1-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.11.013
United States Census Bureau. (2020) https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/VT.Washington D.C.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2005). Federal Foster Care Financing: How and Why the Current Funding Structure Fails to Meet the Needs of the Child Welfare Field. ASPE. https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/federal-foster-care-financing-how-why-current-funding-structure-fails-meet-needs-child-welfare-field-0.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2020). Child Maltreatment 2018. Washington
D.C.: Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau. Available from
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/resource/child-maltreatment-2018
Vermont Department of Children and Families. (2020). Child Abuse and Neglect Definitions. https://dcf.vermont.gov/sites/dcf/files/FSD/Policies/50.pdf.
Wulczyn, F., Levy, B., (2018). Do family support centers reduce maltreatment investigations?
Evidence from Allegheny County. Chicago: Chapin Hall The Center for State Child Welfare Data.
Wulczyn, F., Chen, L., Hislop, K.B. (2007). Foster care dynamics 2000–2005: A
report from the multistate foster care data archive. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21100/gswr.v2i2.1269
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.