Child welfare inequalities: new evidence, further questions : Child welfare inequalities

We explored trends in six developed countries in three types of indicators of child maltreatment for children younger than 11 years, since the inception of modern child protection systems in the 1970s. Despite several policy initiatives for child protection, we recorded no consistent evidence for a decrease in all types of indicators of child maltreatment. We noted falling rates of violent death in a few age and country groups, but these decreases coincided with reductions in admissions to hospital for maltreatment-related injury only in Sweden and Manitoba (Canada). One or more child protection agency indicators increased in five of six countries, particularly in infants, possibly as a result of early intervention policies. Comparisons of mean rates between countries showed five-fold to ten-fold differences in rates of agency indicators, but less than two-fold variation in violent deaths or maltreatment-related injury, apart from high rates of violent child death in the USA. These analyses draw attention to the need for robust research to establish whether the high and rising rates of agency contacts and out-of-home care in some settings are effectively reducing child maltreatment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

One hanging question in child welfare policy and research is whether there is an artificial overrepresentation of the poor in child welfare caseloads or whether this reflects the co-occurrence of poverty and need. In order to address this question, this study uses data from child welfare (report, assessment, service and re-report), income maintenance, special education, hospitals, juvenile court, public mental health treatment, and census data. Poor children reported to child welfare are compared to non-poor children reported to child welfare and also to poor children not reported to child welfare. Poor children reported for maltreatment had greater risk factors at the parent and neighborhood levels and higher rates of negative outcomes than children in either comparison group. Among children reported for maltreatment, poor children have worse outcomes, both within child welfare (e.g., recurrence) and outside of child welfare (e.g. juvenile court, hospitalization for violence) than non-poor children. These data suggest that the overrepresentation of poor children is driven largely by the presence of increased risk among the poor children that come to the attention of child welfare rather than high levels of systemic class bias.