The Characteristics of Domestic Violence Victims in a Child Protective Service Caseload

Abstract

The objective of this research was to identify case characteristics of domestic violence cases in a child protective services (CPS) caseload. The sample was drawn from a large California county, and consisted of 442 children chosen at random from among all children who had a newly substantiated abuse case over a 6-month period. Files of sample children were reviewed to derive study data. There were 187 children (42.3%) from families with at least one domestic violence incident. Parents with a domestic violence incident were significantly more likely to have problem characteristics such as substance abuse, and to have more previous CPS referrals than nondomestic violence families. Domestic violence victims were more likely to rely on public assistance, and were less likely to have an employed parent than nonvictims. Domestic violence cases were more likely than nondomestic violence cases to contain a charge of physical abuse, emotional abuse, or failure to protect, and were more likely to have been reported to CPS by the police. Domestic violence victims received more services, conditions in the service plan, and contact from their social workers than nonvictims. Variables that predicted new referrals during a 6-month follow-up period were examined in logistic regression. Domestic violence, previous referrals to CPS, the number of social work contacts, and having an unemployed father were variables that predicted a new referral. More contact with social workers predicted new referrals. These findings suggest that either interventions with domestic violence cases are ineffective or the chronic nature of domestic violence makes new referrals for child maltreatment more likely because mandated reporters such as police intervene with domestic violence.