Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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May 2013
Study Examines Risk Factors in Recurrent Child Abuse, Neglect
The shorter the intervals between previous reports of child abuse/neglect, the greater the likelihood that the children will experience another incident within five years, suggests a new study co-written by School of Social Work researchers, from left, Saijun Zhang, Tamara Fuller and Martin Nieto in the Children and Family Research Center.
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Mar 2013
Negative Public Images Hamper Child Welfare Investigators
Child welfare agencies struggling to increase parent engagement and counter negative stereotypes might consider enhancing social workers? communication skills and creating public service announcements, suggests a new study by Jill C. Schreiber, Tamara Fuller and Megan Paceley.
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Jan 2013 / Presentation -
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Obesity Prevalence Among US Children and Adolescents Investigated for Maltreatment
No study to date has examined the prevalence of obesity in a nationally representative sample of children who were part of a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation for abuse and neglect. Further, no study has been able to examine differences in obesity risk by child and family demographics and maltreatment case characteristics. Therefore the purpose of this study is to (1) determine the prevalence and correlates of obesity among children investigated for abuse and neglect in the U.S. and (2) examine associations between obesity, child race/ethnicity and family material hardship, history of a prior investigation, type of alleged maltreatment, and credibility of allegation by child sex and developmental age.
Jan 2013 / Presentation -
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Children with Chronic Health Conditions in Foster Care: Differences in Health Care Service Utilization by Placement
Children entering foster care are at high risk for chronic physical, developmental, and psychological conditions requiring intensive health and rehabilitative services. Even though Medicaid covers all children in foster care, research shows that many children with chronic health conditions (CCHC) do not receive the necessary specialized or primary care services they require. CCHC with kin caregivers may be at a particular disadvantage, according to previous studies. This study assesses health care utilization for CCHC and those without in a large sample of children entering either kinship or traditional placements.
Jan 2013 / Presentation -
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The Pattern of Chronic Maltreatment: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis
Chronic child maltreatment, which typically refers to three and more maltreatment incidents associated with a child or family, has gained increasing concerns because of its persistent harm to the children and its disproportional consumption of child welfare resources. Using data from the Illinois child welfare administrative dataset, the study analyzed 2,781 children who had at least two re-reports of child abuse and neglect during the two year observational period from July 1st 2009 to June 30th 2011. The two year period was divided into four 6-month consecutive observation sessions. Maltreatment reports were summed within each session for each child, which yielded a repeated measure of maltreatment count every 6 months. Mplus 7 was used for the Latent Growth Curve Modeling estimation. The results show a declining slope (change rate) of maltreatment counts over time, and identify a series of covariates affecting the slope. The findings have useful implication for child welfare policy and practice concerning chronic maltreatment issues.
Dec 2012 / Research Brief -
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Paternal Involvement in Child Care: Do Bad Neighborhoods Keep Fathers Away?
A large proportion of children live apart from their fathers among unwed birth families. Lack of paternal involvement has been shown to have a negative impact on child development, and federal and state programs have been initiated to improve paternal engagement among families without a resident father. It is important to understand factors that hamper or promote paternal engagement. This study explores the influence of neighborhood environment on paternal engagement beyond individual and family characteristics, and compares the difference between resident father families and nonresident father families.
Dec 2012 / Research Brief -
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Forensic Evidence in Child Sexual Abuse Cases: The Experience of Using a Statewide Pediatric Forensic Evidence Collection Kit
This brief presents data on statewide implementation of the Massachusetts Pediatric Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit, a specially designed non-invasive kit for victims of child sexual abuse receiving acute forensic medical examinations. The kit yielded biological evidence in 33% of 283 cases, a rate that was comparable or higher than previous studies using traditional, more invasive methods.
Nov 2012 / Presentation -
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The Family Voice in the Evaluation of Differential Response
Family perspectives are often overlooked when data is collected in child welfare proigram evaluations. To elicit the family voice from caregivers involved with Child Protective Services in Differential Response systems in Illinois, Colorado, and Ohio, the evaluators designed and administered a family exit survey. This presentation, given at the 7th Annual Conference on Differential Response in Child Welfare, describes the instrument development process and presents preliminary findings. The presentation also focuses on special considerations when collecting data from child welfare populations, including the importance of cognitive testing and strategies for enhancing response rates. Finally, results of a qualitative study with families conducted in Illinois are presented.
Nov 2012 / Presentation -
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Forensic Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases:
This presentation reports preliminary results from a study of forensic evidence in 587 adult sexual assault cases (victim age 12 and older) seen by medical providers in Massachusetts from 2008 to 2010.Non-genital injuries were found in 53% of victims, genital injuries in 41.1% of victims, and biological evidence in 86.9% of cases (the last included semen, blood, a saliva enzyme and/or other biological evidence). Over two thirds of medical examinations were conducted by nurses from the statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) program, who are specially trained to conduct forensic medical examinations in sexual assault cases, and less than one-third by other medical providers, primarily emergency department physicians. Black and Hispanic victims were significantly less likely to have non-genital injuries identified, which may relate to the contrast in color between the injury and skin. SANE nurses were significantly more likely to identify genital injuries; there was no significant difference on non-genital injuries. In 40.9% of cases in which some biological evidence was found, the crime labs were able to extract a DNA profile. In 37.9% of the cases with DNA profiles generated, the DNA matched the suspect in the case, in 8.3% the DNA matched the DNA in another investigation in a national DNA database, and in 17.5% the DNA matched a convicted offender in that database. There were no significant differences between SANE nurses and other medical providers on likelihood of forensic evidence, even though the SANEs, whose philosophy stresses empowering patient choices, were significantly less likely to use certain procedures such as pubic hair combings.
Oct 2012
Troubled Neighborhoods Deter Some Fathers from Child Involvement
Environmental factors such as crime and poverty rates in the neighborhood where children live influence nonresident fathers' engagement with their children, suggests a new study by the Center's Saijun Zhang and Tamara Fuller.
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Sep 2012 / Presentation -
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Forensic Evidence Recovery in Pre-pubertal Children: The MA PEDI Kit Experience
This presentation reports research on Massachusetts Pediatric Forensic Evidence Collection Kit, the first evidence kit in the country specially created to collect forensic medical evidence in acute child sexual assault cases. The kit is designed to follow a set of "first do no harm" principles that make use of the kit less invasive and more supportive of children than traditional methods of medical examination. Statistical results are presented that show that the kits yield biological evidence following crime lab analysis at rates that are comparable to previous studies even while following the "do no harm" principles.
Jul 2012 / Report -
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Illinois AODA IV-E Waiver Demonstration Final Evaluation Report
This report presents findings from Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Title IV-E Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) Waiver Demonstration. Implemented in 2000, the AODA waiver randomly assigned substance-involved parents with children in substitute care to either a control group (services as usual) or a treatment group (services as usual plus the services of a recovery coach). Results indicate the parents assigned to the recovery coach group are more likely to achieve family reunification as compared to parents assigned to the control group. In addition, children in the treatment group spent significantly fewer days in foster care as compared to children in the control group. It is estimated that the waiver demonstration saved the State of Illinois at least $6,141,925 through March 2012.
Jul 2012 / Presentation -
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The Criminal Justice Response to Child Abuse: Lessons Learned and Future Directions for Research and Practice
This day-long workshop presents a more comprehensive overview of 25 years of research on the criminal justice response to child maltreatment. Topics include the progress of child abuse cases through the criminal justice system, the effect of multidisciplinary teams, the impact of the court experience and testifying on child victims, factors associated with prosecution, and research on evidence and offender confession.
Jul 2012 / Presentation -
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Does Child Disability Increase or Decrease the Risk of Victimization? Divergent Results Depending on Level of Functioning and Type of Disability
Although studies have shown that children with disabilities are at an increased risk for both intrafamilial maltreatment and extrafamilial victimization, few examine how specific forms of disability and level of impairment predict risk, and most examine only one type of victimization. This study examines the association between levels of social abilities, everyday living skills, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors and the prevalence of single or multiple types of victimization. The analysis used baseline and 18 month follow-up data for youth ages 8 to 17 in a longitudinal national probability study of children involved in maltreatment investigations in 2008. Youth with very severe impairments in living skills were at a decreased risk of both single and multiple victimizations than low to normal functioning peers. Youth with very severe internalizing problems were at an increased risk of a single type of victimization – either sexual abuse or neglect - than low to normal functioning peers. Youth with very severe to severe externalizing problems were at an increased risk of a single type of victimization – sexual abuse, neglect, or assault - than normal functioning peers. Presenters will discuss plausible explanations of why children at different levels of these types of functionality may be more or less likely to experience single or multiple forms of victimizations.
Jul 2012 / Presentation -
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Child Maltreatment Victims Age Zero to Five: Developmental Challenges and Program Opportunities
Young child maltreatment victims are extremely vulnerable to compromised development. Using the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this presentation reports Illinois and national research on developmental challenges for child victims age 0 to 5 and on interventions to address developmental lags. Large proportions of these children show delays in cognitive and language development. Gaps exist in providing early intervention, though children in foster care are more likely to receive it.Obstacles to identifying children with developmental need, referring them to early intervention (EI), and providing EI services limit the number of children receiving help and the positive impact of their involvement with EI. However, a large majority of Illinois substantiated child victims are enrolled in early child education programs, significantly more than in the rest of the country.
Jul 2012 / Research Brief -
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The Need for Food: Families Served by Child Welfare in Illinois
The purpose of this research brief is to examine the use of community food services (such as food pantries and soup kitchens) and state-provided food assistance programs among families involved in child welfare investigations in Illinois. The percentage of families in substantiated investigations in Illinois that use community food service and food assistance programs is compared to the percentage of these households that are eligible for assistance.
Jun 2012 / Research Brief -
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Concurrent Criminal and Child Protective Services Investigations
Some advocates argue that police too rarely conduct criminal investigations in Child Protective Services sexual abuse cases, while policy regarding police involvement in CPS physical abuse and neglect cases is not well developed. However, little research has examined how often police investigate in CPS cases and what factors predict involvement. Using two cohorts of cases (1999-2001 and 2008-2009) from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of children involved in CPS investigations, this presentation examines the frequency of criminal investigations in CPS cases and the factors predicting criminal investigation. Across cohorts, criminal investigations took place in 21% to 24% of all cases, 47% to 49% of sexual abuse cases, 24% to 27% of physical abuse cases and 15% to 18% of neglect cases. Police investigated more often when caseworkers reported greater risk and harm to the child and greater evidence, but variables like child age and relationship to perpetrator were not significant. Which county was involved, however, was a major predictor, with enormous variation in rates of police investigation across counties. Thus the likelihood of a criminal investigation depends on severity but also agency differences in practice. Equity suggests the need to discuss these differences.
Jun 2012 / Presentation -
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How Can We Be Effective in Pursuing Justice in Child Abuse Cases?
This 90 minute workshop presents a brief overview of 25 years of research on the criminal justice response to child abuse. Topics include the progress of child abuse cases through the criminal justice system, the effect of multidisciplinary teams, the impact of the court experience and testifying on child victims, factors associated with prosecution, and research on evidence and offender confession.
Jun 2012 / Report -
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The Well-Being of Illinois Children in Substantiated Investigations: Baseline Results from the Illinois Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being
This report provides results from the Illinois Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (ISCAW), an intensive study of the well-being of a random sample of 818 Illinois children involved in substantiated child maltreatment investigations. The study is a component of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). Using data from interviews and standardized instruments used with caseworkers, caregivers, teachers and children themselves, ISCAW provides a broad profile on how child and youth victims function, how they are developing, and what services they receive. Chapters review child and adolescent well-being and services in five domains: child development; education; physical health; social, emotional and behavioral well-being; and risk in children's environment. Disproportionate percentages of children in each domain have significant problems needing intervention, but many children are resilient as well. Although many children receive services to address these problems, there is frequently a gap between the services needed and those delivered.
Jun 2012 / Presentation -
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Foster Families and Food Assistance: Results from a National Study
The objective of this presentation is to estimate the risk that a child place in out-of-home foster care following a maltreatment investigation will encounter times when adequate food is unavailable. The sample is derived from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being Cohort 2 (NSCAW 2), which is a study of children who have come into contact with the child welfare system in 2008. The results indicate that 40% of kinship caregivers report receiving food stamps at the time of child placement, which is substantially higher rate compared to 7% of foster parents. Results also indicate that, regardless of placement type, being divorced, separated, or never married, having less than a high school degree, and having a lower family income were all associated with increased risk for food stamp receipt. Although there are many advantages to being placed with kin, children in kinship foster care are at a high risk of encountering times when adequate food is unavailable. These instances have the potential to seriously endanger a child’s already compromised health and may have implications for maltreatment recurrence.
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