Child Welfare Court Research Articles

Parental substance use: How child welfare workers make the case for court intervention

Parental substance use (PSU) is a factor in many child welfare cases; however, little is known about how child welfare agencies and their workers make the case to juvenile or family courts that PSU-related acts and omissions are harmful to children. This qualitative data-mining study explores the ways in which child welfare workers draw on child maltreatment statutes, risk assessment tools, and practice guidelines to frame evidence and make the case that PSU is harmful or poses a substantial risk of harm to children. Narrative data were extracted from child welfare court reports located in electronic case records from two California counties. Analysis revealed that workers cited multiple sources and types of evidence to make the case that, due to substance use, parents had failed to protect their children from harm or risk of harm and/or had failed to provide for their children's basic needs. Moreover, workers noted that these failures constituted neglect under California law. In addition, similarities and differences emerged within and across counties in how workers made the case that children were in need of protection, which suggested that state and local policy-practice guidelines influenced the structure of court reports and arguments made for state intervention. Implications for policy and practice are discussed and recommendations for future research are identified.

Risk and parenting assessments in child welfare court proceedings – a psychodynamic approach

This article discusses a court directed parenting and risk assessment of a mother who has a chronic history of trauma and abuse. It addresses the complex unconscious dynamics that need to be managed by social workers when working with parents in court proceedings regarding their children. Often such parents present with their own complex histories of trauma and abuse and despite their conscious intentions to do so this has contributed to their inability to provide adequate care for their own children. An understanding of the powerful unconscious processes in operation more effectively gauges the risk factors that such parents present. However, such cases and enactments on behalf of parents can be bewildering to social work practioners. This may potentially lead to the social worker feeling persecuted during the process, resulting in impulsive, unprocessed and poor decision-making despite their best conscious intentions. To mitigate these challenges there is discussion of the support needs required for social workers, who engage with such complex unconscious dynamics.

Child Welfare Responses Linked to Subtypes of Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence From the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect.

Children exposed to intimate partner violence (CE-IPV) are at increased risk for later health and social difficulties. To date, studies have primarily focused on CE-IPV as a unitary construct; this may lead to the mistaken assumption that all subtypes of CE-IPV (i.e., exposure to direct or indirect physical abuse, or exposure to emotional abuse) are equally harmful requiring similar responses from child welfare services. The purpose of this study was to examine child welfare responses by CE-IPV subtype in a large Canadian child welfare sample. Using data from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2008 (N = 2,184), we examined child welfare responses to CE-IPV subtypes or their co-occurrence. Information was obtained from child welfare workers' reports. Cases with co-occurring subtypes of CE-IPV were more likely to be substantiated and involved multiple incidents compared with that with single CE-IPV subtypes. Cases with direct physical CE-IPV and co-occurring CE-IPV were also more likely to remain open and have an application considered or made to child welfare court. Exposure to emotional IPV was the least likely to warrant interventions by welfare services, including referrals to specialized services. These results suggest that within CE-IPV subtypes, there is evidence of different responses (recommendations and services) once a case has been opened by a worker. Future research is needed to examine the effectiveness of the responses and outcomes for children following child welfare interventions.

Building a Resilience‐Oriented Child Welfare Court System

AbstractThe child welfare court system wrestles consistently with how to measure success. Preventing child deaths, ensuring child safety, enhancing child well‐being, and faster permanency are some of the metrics used to assess the effectiveness of our system. This article proposes measuring child welfare courts on their principle‐driven expression of values that promote the existence of resilience in families, professionals, and the system itself. It is critical to understand that trauma is not a necessary result of adversity, and the existence of protective factors can make us resilient against the triggering and onset of trauma. Child welfare court systems exist in complexity, and need to be managed for innovation and adaptability. The experience of poverty shared between families and the system is often the curse that weighs against performance, but could be the link that opens expanded capacity. The Court Improvement Training Academy at the University of Washington School of Law provides a framework of values, principles, and examples of work aimed at building resilience‐oriented child welfare court systems.

Correlates of joint child protection and police child sexual abuse investigations: results from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2008.

Our study examines the frequency of joint investigations by child protection workers and the police in sexual abuse investigations compared to other maltreatment types and the association of child-, caregiver-, maltreatment- and investigation-related characteristics in joint investigations, focussing specifically on investigations involving sexual abuse. We analyzed data from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2008 using logistic regression. The data suggest that sexual abuse (55%), and then physical abuse, neglect and emotional maltreatment, are most often co-investigated. Substantiation of maltreatment, severity of maltreatment, placement in out-of-home care, child welfare court involvement and referral of a family member to specialized services was more likely when the police were involved in an investigation. This study adds to the limited information on correlates of joint child protection agency and police investigations. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of these joint investigations.

Family Drug Courts: Conceptual Frameworks, Empirical Evidence, and Implications for Social Work

Families in the child welfare system who are affected by substance abuse face distinct challenges to achieving reunification. Family drug courts (FDCs), which are child welfare courts based on a therapeutic framework of legal scholarship, arose 2 decades ago as an alternative approach for adjudicating these cases. A comprehensive review of prior empirical research on FDCs is presented to ascertain whether the model is a best practice for this population. The results of this review suggest that children in families that are involved in FDCs spend less time in foster care and are more likely to achieve reunification. This analysis incorporates findings from qualitative literature and undertakes methodological and values-based critiques in order to develop implications for social work research, practice, and policy.

Care assessments concerning involuntary removal of children from intellectually disabled parents

This study set out to analyse how parenting and the needs of the children are assessed by social authorities and courts in families where one or both parents have an intellectual disability (ID). The texts of child welfare investigations and court judgments in 16 cases of care orders concerning parents (30) with IDs and their children (29) in two counties in Sweden were analysed by a hermeneutic case study. The study shows that even though many of the children are described as already harmed by neglect, clear assessments of care needs are not presented and it is uncertain which of the children's needs a placement in a family home is assumed to satisfy. The conclusion of the article is that, even though no direct discrimination can be established, the particular individual and structural difficulties of the families' life circumstances are not taken into consideration. This can be seen as a discriminatory practice.

Juvenile court pathways to legal permanence for children in substitute care

Abstract Using administrative data describing the contemporaneous substitute care and juvenile court histories of 8116 children entering substitute care in Cook county Illinois, this study examines children's pathways to legal permanence. Specifically, by parsing children's exit to permanence by its constituent legal milestones, and examining the extent to which variability in the rates of these milestones are attributable to the court calendar (i.e., judge) and child levels, respectively, this study attempts to pinpoint the primary sources of variability in children's pathways to legal permanence. Results suggest that the transitions between certain legal milestones (e.g., disposition to reunification, disposition to TPR) account for a majority of the variability in children's exit to permanence. Results also suggest that a moderate amount of variability in permanency rates is attributable to court calendars, but that the magnitude of calendar-level influence varies considerably across legal milestone transitions; for some transitions (e.g., TPR to adoption finalization), calendar-level influence is effectively zero, whereas for other transitions (e.g., entry to dispositional order), calendar-level influence seems to eclipse the influence of observed child-level characteristics. Implications for child welfare and juvenile court scholarship, policy, and practice are discussed.

Shifting definitions of emotional maltreatment: An analysis child welfare investigation laws and practices in Canada

Objective Although there is growing evidence that the emotional dimensions of child maltreatment are particularly damaging, the feasibility and appropriateness of including emotional maltreatment (EM) in child welfare statutes continues to be questioned. Unlike physical and sexual abuse where investigations focus on discreet incidents of maltreatment, EM is not as easily defined and delimited. Through a review of legislation and child welfare investigation practices in Canada, this paper examines (1) whether Canadian child welfare services respond to EM with the same level of perseverance as with other forms of maltreatment and (2) the extent to which the introduction in 2008 of a more specific EM taxonomy distinguishes between EM and family problems that could lead to EM. Method Following an analysis of the legislative framework for EM across Canada, investigations practices in Canada are examined using data from the 1998, 2003 and 2008 cycles of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS). Using data from the 2008 cycle, EM investigations are compared to other maltreatment investigations for all of Canada ( N = 15,980). Changes in EM investigations over time are then compared using data from the three cycles of the study, excluding Québec because of limited data availability in 2003 ( N = 5,360 in 1998, 11,562 in 2003 and 14,050 in 2008). Results EM is included as a form of reportable maltreatment in all provincial and territorial statutes in Canada. Over 11,000 cases of EM were substantiated in Canada in 2008, at a rate of 1.86 cases per 1,000 children. While EM investigations were substantiated at a lower rate as other forms of maltreatment, a higher proportion of EM cases were referred for specialized services, kept open for on-going child welfare services, lead to an out of home placement, and lead to an application to child welfare court. Using a broad definition of EM the number of investigations classified as EM in Canada, excluding Québec, nearly tripled from 1998 to 2003. In 2008, using more specific definitions focusing on caregiver definitions, the number of investigations classified as EM nearly returned to their 1998 level, with nearly twice as many cases being classified as risk of future maltreatment. Conclusion EM is a well established category for child welfare intervention in Canada, however, more emphasis should be given to distinguishing between EM and family problems that place children at risk of EM.

Child Welfare in the Court: A Collaboration Between Social Work and Law Faculty to Prepare Social Work Students for Work With the Courts

This article reports on an innovative interdisciplinary short course in which social work students at a master's level work with law and social work faculty and law students in a simulated child welfare court experience. Social workers are called to work in a range of court settings including child welfare, criminal justice, and custody hearings. Social work students show interest in gaining knowledge and skills to raise their comfort level and gain competence necessary to work in these settings. The goals and structure of the course developed at the University of Maryland are described, in addition to lessons learned in its implementation. This description is followed by more general recommendations that have come from experience with the program and feedback received from participating students and faculty.

Parental cognitive impairment and child maltreatment in Canada

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of parental cognitive impairment in cases opened for child maltreatment investigation in Canada, and to examine the relationship between parental cognitive impairment and maltreatment investigation outcomes including substantiation, case disposition and court application. Methods The method was secondary analysis of the Canadian Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2003) core-data, which is derived from a multi-stage stratified cluster sample of 11,562 child maltreatment investigations. Results Parental cognitive impairment was noted in 10.1% of sampled cases that were opened for child maltreatment investigation in 2003, and in 27.3% of sampled cases that resulted in child welfare court application. Neglect was the most common cause of concern. With child and case characteristics held constant, parental cognitive impairment predicted investigation outcomes. The data further suggest that the relationship between parental cognitive impairment and investigation outcomes was partially mediated by perceived parent non-cooperation, mental health issues and low social support. Conclusions The number of children who are living with a parent with cognitive impairment and who are referred for protective services is thought to be increasing. Building systems capacity to support parents with cognitive impairment and promote child wellbeing is therefore essential to containing the human and economic costs of maltreatment and out-of-home care. Practice implications A broad-spectrum approach is needed to support parents with cognitive impairment and their children. Equipping services with the knowledge, skills, and mandate they need to deliver evidence-based parent training is vital. However, strategies are also needed to tackle discrimination, alleviate family poverty, strengthen the social ties of parents with cognitive impairment and in turn, improve the life chances of their children.

Services used by perinatal substance-users with child welfare involvement: a descriptive study

BackgroundSubstance use during pregnancy often leads to involvement in the child welfare system, resulting in multiple social service systems and service providers working with families to achieve successful child welfare outcomes. The Vulnerable Infants Program of Rhode Island (VIP-RI) is a care coordination program developed to work with perinatal substance-users to optimize opportunities for reunification and promote permanency for substance-exposed infants. This paper describes services used by VIP-RI participants and child welfare outcomes.MethodsData collected during the first four years of VIP-RI were used to identify characteristics of program participants, services received, and child welfare outcomes: closed child welfare cases, reunification with biological mothers and identified infant permanent placements.Descriptive ResultsMedical and financial services were associated with positive child welfare outcomes. Medical services included family planning, pre- and post-natal care and HIV test counseling. Financial services included assistance with obtaining entitlement benefits and receiving tangible support such as food and clothing.ConclusionsFindings from this study suggest services that address basic family needs were related to positive child welfare outcomes. The provision of basic services, such as health care and financial assistance through entitlement benefits and tangible donations, may help to establish a foundation so mothers can concentrate on recovery and parenting skills. Identification of services for perinatal substance users that are associated with more successful child welfare outcomes has implications for the child welfare system, treatment providers, courts and families.

Professionals’ decision‐making in cases of physical punishment reported to child welfare authorities: does family poverty matter?

ABSTRACTThe influence of family poverty on professionals’ decision‐making in cases of physical punishment reported to child welfare agencies was examined. The sample was drawn from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect. The influence of five indicators of poverty on six investigation outcomes was assessed. In addition, a Poverty Index was constructed from these five variables to assess whether the family's overall poverty status influenced investigation outcomes. The outcome variables examined were case substantiation, provision of ongoing child welfare services, referrals to child and family support programmes, out‐of‐home placement, applications to child welfare court and police involvement. Together, the poverty indicators did not account for more than 6% of the explained variation in any of the outcome variables, nor did the magnitude of the Poverty Index affect the likelihood of any of the investigation outcomes. These findings suggest that family poverty does not influence professionals’ decision‐making in cases of physical punishment reported to child welfare agencies in Canada. The findings have implications for the ongoing development of policy aimed at reducing parental use of physical punishment.

Severe emotional disturbance and violent offending among incarcerated adolescents

The study reported in this article examined the prevalence of eligibility for educational services for serious emotional disturbance (SED) among incarcerated youths, as well as how this designation relates to offender type. Administrative data from juvenile corrections, county child welfare agencies, and the state Department of Education (special education services for SED) were matched across systems and used to investigate the relationship of SED to violent offending among incarcerated adolescents while controlling for prior child welfare and juvenile court histories. Logistic regression was used to understand whether youths with SED designations were more likely to be incarcerated for violent offenses. SED status was not significantly associated with incarceration as a violent offender. Implications for screening and intervention services are discussed. Key words: juvenile corrections; serious emotional disturbance; special education; violence ********** Concern regarding the relationship between mental health disorders and serious and violent youthful offending is not new. Research indicates that comorbidity of psychiatric disorders and delinquency among youths is fairly substantial (Farrington et al., 1990; Loeber, Brinthaupt, & Green, 1990; Reinherz, Giaconia, Lefkowitz, Pakiz, & Frost, 1993; Williams, Ayers, & Arthur, 1997). Various studies have estimated that youths in juvenile justice systems experience mental health disorders at a rate of two to four times that of youths in the general population (Otto, Greenstein, Johnson, & Friedman, 1992). Yet, although the comorbidity research seems relatively well-developed, the study of how and when needs are identified and served is a newer area of inquiry (Burns, 1999; Stouthamer-Loeber, Loeber, & Thomas, 1992; Teplin, Abram, & McClelland, 1997). This gap in knowledge hampers the ability to guide policy and practice regarding when and how to intervene. Research on mental health services and serious delinquency is complicated by the fact that different agencies use different eligibility criteria for services. Although schools are major providers or brokers of mental health services for children (Zahner, Pawelkiewicz, DeFrancesco, & Adnopoz, 1992), studies of mental disorder among delinquents typically focus on diagnostic labels such as DSM-IV diagnoses used by noneducation personnel. Yet, some school-based mental health services, such as the educational services provided for serious emotional disturbance (SED), are based on entirely different criteria. For a youth to have a label of SED, he or she must exhibit one or more of the following to a marked degree so that it affects educational performance: the inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; and a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems (Office of Special Education Programs, 1997). The present study adds to the emerging body of research on service use, SED, and delinquency by investigating mental health disorder identified by the public school system among incarcerated juveniles. Estimates of the prevalence of SED among youths can be unreliable because of problems with definitions, measures, and methodology. The United States Office of Special Education Programs (1997) estimated that between 1 and 10 million children are disabled by SED, but only about 440,000 children are receiving special education services. Other researchers estimated the prevalence rate of SED for youths in the general population at 9 percent to 13 percent (Friedman, Katz-Levy, Manderscheid, & Sandheimer, 1996). The national rate of special education service for SED has remained stable at slightly less than 1 percent (Oswald & Coutinho, 1995). …

Assessing for parenting capacity.

Developmental prerequisites are reviewed, and guidelines for assessing parents' current ability to provide them are presented. Problems at the interface of the mental health, child welfare, and family court systems are discussed, and a framework for minimizing errors in the assessment of parenting capacity is suggested.