Child Welfare-involved Families Research Articles

Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota

Objective and ApproachPrior research has found that experiences of homelessness are associated with an increased likelihood of child protection involvement, and vice-versa. However, it is not clear how involvement with the child welfare system may impact family housing stability during and after their involvement. The objective of this study was to more deeply understand the housing stability of families involved with child welfare over time. To examine this issue, we linked administrative data from Minnesota’s Homelessness Management Information System with social services data from the Department of Human Services (e.g., receipt of food support, childcare or housing assistance, child welfare), for families involved with child welfare in Minnesota between 2019 and 2021. ResultsApproximately a quarter of child welfare-involved families experienced homelessness during their involvement with the child welfare system. Rates of homelessness were similarly high in the two years prior to and following child welfare involvement. Although a large proportion of families experienced homelessness before and during their child welfare involvement, we saw no increase in the proportion of families receiving housing support after their involvement in the system. Conclusions and ImplicationsOur findings indicate that involvement with the child welfare system and the resources provided through this involvement do not have a significant impact on family’s experiences of homelessness. This suggests the need for closer collaboration between the child welfare system and housing services to identify more effective solutions for housing instability among families within the child welfare system.

Betrayal Trauma, Parental Substance Use Disorder, and Reunification Outcomes Among Child Welfare-Involved Families

Betrayal Trauma, Parental Substance Use Disorder, and Reunification Outcomes Among Child Welfare-Involved Families

Meeting housing needs of child welfare-involved families: Policy insights from simulation modeling

BackgroundInadequate housing contributes to the risk of family separation in nearly one-quarter of child maltreatment investigations. Child welfare struggles to identify and address the demand for housing assistance. A range of housing interventions shows promise for stabilizing families. Still, aid remains difficult to access, and little evidence exists for prioritizing households to interventions. Inefficient decisions about who to serve with scarce housing resources threaten to diminish resources and unintentionally place children at greater risk. ObjectiveThe present study leverages computational modeling to simulate the complex dynamics of coordinated child welfare response to inadequate housing. Simulations address the lack of microdata on current service delivery to inform policy-making that protects children from family insecurity. Participants and settingsA series of simulated policy experiments test strategies for maximizing access to appropriate housing assistance and minimizing system-wide family separations using US estimates of housing insecurity and child welfare involvement. Models incorporate the feedback loops involved in seeking and waiting for needed services, using information on national rates of housing insecurity among child welfare-involved families. ResultsResults demonstrate population-level improvements in family stability from enhanced targeting of housing assistance to families most likely to benefit, plus expanded access to housing interventions. Neither improved screening procedures nor more housing supports alone improve child welfare outcomes. ConclusionsFindings emphasize the importance of data-driven upstream policies for protecting inadequately housed children at risk of maltreatment.

Imagining a new future: elimination of child support obligations for child welfare-involved families

ABSTRACT As we imagine the next generation of public child welfare, efforts to identify and eliminate practices that are harmful to families must be pursued. This commentary uses available research evidence to argue against child support enforcement for child welfare-involved families. Although research on this topic is sparse, the evidence from the few available studies suggests that child support enforcement likely harms child welfare-involved families. It delays reunification, increases family financial precarity, is cost ineffective, and is anathema to the values of family support. Federal policies that require or encourage referral of child welfare-involved families to child support agencies should be eliminated to better promote family strengths and cohesion.

Secondary traumatic stress among parent advocates in child welfare

ABSTRACT Parent advocates are peers with lived experience who were formerly involved with the child welfare system and who interact with child welfare-involved parents and families to provide varying types of needed supports. Understanding the role of the secondary traumatic stress among parent advocates is crucial as secondary traumatic stress can not only hamper the quality of services provided to families but can also adversely impact advocates. Given the dearth of available research, this exploratory study provided a unique and much-needed glimpse into the parent advocates’ experience of secondary traumatic stress, through data generated from qualitative in-person interviews with the advocates. Several respondents admitted that they experienced some self-detected secondary traumatic stress. The study identified the formal and informal coping mechanisms that the program and advocates employed to handle such stress. Implications are discussed, and areas for future research are presented.

The impact of COVID-19 on child welfare-involved families: Implications for parent–child reunification and child welfare professionals

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children and parents involved in the child welfare system and the professionals working with these families. Using survey data collected August–September of 2020, this mixed-methods study examined the perspectives of 196 child welfare-involved professionals (77 attorneys, 99 caseworkers, and 20 therapists) in the United States about the impact of COVID-19 on parents of origin, children, foster parents, and child welfare professionals. Particular attention was paid to the implications of COVID-19 and associated challenges for parent–child contact and reunification. With respect to professional stresses, more than half of participants worried about their own personal safety and health amidst COVID-19, and more than three-quarters expressed concerns about the safety and well-being of child welfare-involved families. Participants, especially attorneys, expressed concerns about parent–child contact and disruptions to reunification. In-person parent–child visits had all but ceased during the early part of the pandemic, and participants identified barriers to effective virtual visits, including lack of foster parent oversight, technology issues, and children’s developmental stage and/or lack of engagement. Attorneys were especially critical of the cessation of in-person visits and viewed this as a serious threat to child-parent bonds and reunification. Participants, especially child welfare workers, voiced concerns about children’s mental health and educational outcomes amidst the pandemic. Findings have implications for attorneys, child welfare workers, and other practitioners who directly and indirectly interface with child welfare-involved families.

PCIT engagement and persistence among child welfare-involved families: Associations with harsh parenting, physiological reactivity, and social cognitive processes at intake.

Parent-Child interaction therapy (PCIT) has been shown to improve positive, responsive parenting and lower risk for child maltreatment (CM), including among families who are already involved in the child welfare system. However, higher risk families show higher rates of treatment attrition, limiting effectiveness. In N = 120 child welfare families randomized to PCIT, we tested behavioral and physiological markers of parent self-regulation and socio-cognitive processes assessed at pre-intervention as predictors of retention in PCIT. Results of multinomial logistic regressions indicate that parents who declined treatment displayed more negative parenting, greater perceptions of child responsibility and control in adult-child transactions, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) increases to a positive dyadic interaction task, and RSA withdrawal to a challenging, dyadic toy clean-up task. Increased odds of dropout during PCIT's child-directed interaction phase were associated with greater parent attentional bias to angry facial cues on an emotional go/no-go task. Hostile attributions about one's child predicted risk for dropout during the parent-directed interaction phase, and readiness for change scores predicted higher odds of treatment completion. Implications for intervening with child welfare-involved families are discussed along with study limitations.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Depressive Profiles of Child Welfare-Involved Families Receiving Home Visitation Services.

Profiles of depressive symptoms were identified among Hispanic, Black, and White parents involved in the child welfare service system, including changes in symptoms over time. Participants (N=2,109) were parents receiving SafeCare, a home visitation intervention provided in a large, diverse child welfare system. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Centers for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale at baseline and at approximately every sixth home visit, up to a total of four times. Univariate tests examined the relationship between baseline symptoms, race-ethnicity, and service participation. Latent class growth analyses identified trajectories of depressive symptoms during participation in child welfare services. Participation in services was affected by depressive symptoms. Forty percent of parents did not remain long enough in the program to complete a second CES-D assessment, and those who reported more symptoms at baseline were significantly less likely to do so. Among parents who engaged in services, distinct profiles of depressive symptoms emerged that differed by race-ethnicity. For non-Hispanic Black parents, no changes in depressive symptoms over time were noted, regardless of level of severity at baseline. Parents with the highest levels of symptoms did not improve over time. Despite receipt of supportive and recovery-oriented services specifically focused on empowering child welfare-involved parents, many experienced elevated depressive symptoms. Integration of child welfare and community mental health systems may improve both service engagement and mental health among child welfare-involved families.

Female-Perpetrated Sexual Violence: A Survey of Survivors of Female-Perpetrated Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adult Sexual Assault.

Individuals who experience female-perpetrated sexual assault (FPSA) are underrepresented in the sexual victimization literature. Much of the existing research on FPSA centers on child welfare-involved families and convicted or incarcerated female sexual offenders, with limited research devoted to victims of FPSA. The current study included a diverse sample of 138 community adults who experienced one or more incident of FPSA, and sought to (a) describe individuals who experienced FPSA, including their overall trauma exposure, (b) describe perpetrator age and relationship to the respondent, (c) explore whether respondents labeled FPSA as sexual assault and disclosed it to others, and (d) examine the prevalence of depressive and posttraumatic symptoms in this population. Of the respondents, 61.6% experienced childhood FPSA, 18.8% experienced adulthood FPSA, and 19.6% experienced both childhood and adulthood FPSA. Survivors of FPSA were highly trauma exposed; 71.7% reported a male-perpetrated victimization, over 90% reported any childhood sexual abuse, over 60% reported any adulthood victimization, 55.1% reported victimizations in both childhood and adulthood, and 78.3% endorsed any revictimization. Perpetrators of FPSA were often known individuals, including friends, family members, babysitters, and romantic partners. Incidents of female perpetrators co-offending with males accounted for only 5.5%-8.5% of FPSA events, contrary to myths about female offending. Incidents of FPSA were often labeled as sexual assault in retrospect, but only 54.3% of respondents ever disclosed an incident of FPSA. Depressive and posttraumatic symptoms were common. Results indicate FPSA is typically perpetrated by individuals acting alone who are known to and close to the victim. Incidents of FPSA may not be labeled as sexual abuse or assault at the time of the event, are not frequently disclosed, and may carry long-term mental health consequences for survivors. Significant research efforts are needed to better identify and help these underrecognized, highly trauma burdened survivors of violence.

Family critical time intervention with housing unstable, child welfare-involved families: Service providers’ and families’ experiences with the phases

• This study describes how the stages of FCTI are enacted and experienced by families and program staff. • FCTI might be an effective way to serve housing unstable families with children in foster care. • Long-term supports are needed for housing unstable families with children in foster care. It is well documented that children from housing unstable families tend to stay longer in the foster care system and are less likely to reunify with their caregivers as compared to stably housed families. Various housing interventions have been implemented to promote reunification. Previous studies have primarily focused on examining the effectiveness of these housing interventions, however, no qualitative study has explored the mechanisms by which housing interventions are being delivered. This study aims to fill this critical literature gap by exploring how Family Critical Time Intervention (FCTI) is being carried out in the context of serving housing-unstable families with children in foster care. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 16 families, five PFS workers who delivered the intervention, and 15 child welfare workers involved in the families’ cases. Coding and analyses focused on themes describing clients’ and workers’ experiences during the FCTI phases. Themes developed for each phase included (1) Pre-FCTI: workers built trust through compassion; (2) Phase 1: workers helped stabilize clients through collaborative partnerships; Phase 2: workers helped clients with skill development and advocacy, and Phase 3: clients and workers wished for service continuity rather than termination. The findings have implications for promoting innovative practices for families who are at the intersection of housing instability and child welfare involvement.

Screening for economic hardship for child welfare-involved families during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid partnership response

BackgroundPandemics have a wide range of economic, health and social consequences related to both the spread of a disease and efforts made by government leaders to contain it which may be particularly detrimental for the child welfare-involved population. This is because child welfare agencies serve some of the highest needs children and families. A significant proportion of these families face economic hardship, and as a result of containment measures for COVID-19, more families inevitably will. ObjectiveGiven the range of negative consequences related to the pandemic and the evolving supports available to families, child protection workers needed a clinical tool to guide and support work with families informed by an understanding of economic hardship. The objective of this paper is to report on the development and implementation strategy of a tool to be used for practice intervention during the pandemic. MethodsAction research methodology was utilized in the creation of the clinical tool. The tool’s development and implementation occurred through an academic/child welfare sector partnership involving child welfare agencies representing diverse regions and populations in Ontario, Canada. Factor analysis of representative child welfare data from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2018 (OIS-2018) on economic hardship was used to inform the development of questions on the clinical tool. ResultsThe development and implementation strategy of the clinical tool are described, including the results from analyses of the OIS-2018. ConclusionsFuture directions for the project are discussed, including considerations for using this tool beyond the pandemic.

Study Protocol: The Coaching Alternative Parenting Strategies (CAPS) Study of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy in Child Welfare Families.

BackgroundChild maltreatment (CM) constitutes a serious public health problem in the United States with parents implicated in a majority of physical abuse and neglect cases. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an intensive intervention for CM families that uses innovative “bug-in-ear” coaching to improve parenting and child outcomes, and reduce CM recidivism; however, the mechanisms underlying its effects are little understood. The Coaching Alternative Parenting Strategies (CAPS) study aims to clarify the behavioral, neural, and physiological mechanisms of action in PCIT that support positive changes in parenting, improve parent and child self-regulation and social perceptions, and reduce CM in child welfare-involved families.MethodsThe CAPS study includes 204 child welfare-involved parent-child dyads recruited from Oregon Department of Human Services to participate in a randomized controlled trial of PCIT versus a services-as-usual control condition (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02684903). Children ages 3–8 years at study entry and their parents complete a pre-treatment assessment prior to randomization and a post-treatment assessment 9–12 months post study entry. Dyads randomized to PCIT complete an additional, abbreviated assessment at mid-treatment. Each assessment includes individual and joint measures of parents’ and children’s cardiac physiology at rest, during experimental tasks, and in recovery; observational coding of parent-child interactions; and individual electroencephalogram (EEG) sessions including attentional and cognitive control tasks. In addition, parents and children complete an emotion regulation task and parents report on their own and their child’s adverse childhood experiences and socio-cognitive processes, while children complete a cognitive screen and a behavioral measure of inhibitory control. Parents and children also provide anthropometric measures of allostatic load and 4–5 whole blood spots to assess inflammation and immune markers. CM recidivism is assessed for all study families at 6-month follow-up. Post-treatment and follow-up assessments are currently underway.DiscussionKnowledge gained from this study will clarify PCIT effects on neurobehavioral target mechanisms of change in predicting CM risk reduction, positive, responsive parenting, and children’s outcomes. This knowledge can help to guide efforts to tailor and adapt PCIT to vary in dosage and cost on the basis of individual differences in CM-risk factors.

Frontline Staff Characteristics and Capacity for Trauma-Informed Care: Implications for the Child Welfare Workforce

BackgroundImproved understanding of the lasting ways trauma can impact self-regulatory and relational capacities have increased calls for Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) for child welfare-involved families. Little is known, however, about how the attitudes and characteristics of frontline workers impact the implementation of TIC and job retention. This work fills an important gap in knowledge regarding the relationship between staff relational capacities, the implementation of TIC and staff retention. ObjectiveTo understand the relationship between staff characteristics, endorsement of TIC and intent to turnover. Participants and settingThree child and family serving agencies surveyed 271 staff from a populous Northeastern state. MethodsRegression analyses were used to examine the relationship between staff characteristics, Attitudes Related to Trauma Informed Care (ARTIC) score, and intent to turnover. ResultsHigher levels of staff rejection sensitivity was associated with lower endorsement of Principles of Trauma-Informed Care (p < .05). Lower staff alignment with principles of TIC was associated with higher levels of intention to turnover and leave their organization (p < .05). ConclusionStaff histories of relational loss and trauma may impact both workforce buy-in and readiness to implement TIC. Therefore, identifying staff sensitivity to rejection in the hiring process or after hire, and providing specific supports, such as reflective supervision, may enhance both service delivery and staff experiences' of their work. Additionally, using the ARTIC scale in the hiring process may also reduce staff turnover and burnout. Attending to staff relational characteristics is a critical component of promoting worker resilience.

Perspectives of caregivers with child welfare involvement in a supportive housing program

SummaryThe literature is absent on qualitative research that documents perspectives of caregivers involved in child welfare and who participated in a U.S. Housing First supportive housing intervention. A program evaluation of a social work-led, Housing First intervention was conducted, and this study reports the qualitative findings of the evaluation. Drawing on the focus group method, nine caregivers, involved in child welfare and with a history of homelessness risk, shared their perspectives on the Housing First intervention as well as the impact of the Housing First intervention on their families.FindingsUsing two-cycle coding for theme analysis, researchers independently analyzed the focus group transcripts and jointly identified seven themes. The themes include: (1) experience with adversity, (2) spiritual impact, (3) resources and services, (4) role of support of staff, (5) housing stability, (6) self-sufficiency, and (7) family stability.ApplicationsThis research provides insight into for social work administrators to develop a trauma-informed, strengths-based Housing First program to assist child welfare-involved families. Further, specific roles are delineated that social workers occupy when working with families in a Housing First program; these roles include educator, advocate, and nurturer. This information can provide supervisors and grant writers with specific staff functions that can be helpful in creating staffing patterns, providing job descriptions, and detailing program support. Finally, the themes of housing stability, family stability, and self-sufficiency support the U.S Children’s Bureau’s goals of safety, permanency, and well-being and meet the social work profession’s obligation to protect children and improve family functioning

Investigating the Impact of the SafeCare Program on Parenting Behaviours in Child Welfare-Involved Families

Child neglect is a long-standing concern in child welfare because of its short- and long-term negative consequences. SafeCare is an evidence-based parenting program designed to reduce the risk of child neglect and prevent its future occurrence. In this study, we examined the effects of the SafeCare program on several parenting outcomes in a sample of 76 child welfare-involved caregivers from Ontario (Canada). Caregivers’ self-reported ratings of neglectful parenting practices, physical punishment, psychological aggression, and positive disciplinary practices were obtained prior to and shortly after program completion, as well as at 3-month post-intervention. Multi-level growth curve modelling results indicated statistically significant improvements in caregiver parenting behaviour following program completion. Findings indicated a significant decrease in caregivers’ self-reported neglectful parenting from pre- to post-intervention and from post-intervention to 3-month follow-up. Caregivers also reported a significant decrease in the use of physical punishment and a significant increase in positive disciplinary practices. These findings highlight some of the benefits of the SafeCare program, particularly as they pertain to simultaneously reducing and increasing certain parenting practices that help promote children’s safety and well-being.

Peer support services in family reunification process in child welfare: perceptions of parents and family coaches

ABSTRACT Despite the fact that family reunification remains the foremost permanency-planning goal for children in the child welfare system, reunification is not always successful and reentry into foster care after reunification is hardly a rare event due to parental unaddressed needs, stress, and lack of supports. This study explored a peer-delivered pre- and post-reunification support program for child welfare-involved families. Using qualitative focus groups and interviews, experiences of parents with the peer support services were examined. The findings suggested that the presence of a family coach with a shared experience remained a critical source of support for many parents, providing emotional, informational, instructional, and advocacy supports while cultivating the special feelings of connection, comfort, trust, and guidance. The efforts to ensure sustainable permanency outcomes should seriously consider the important role that family coaches play as supporters, guides, and trusted confidantes to a vulnerable population of parents in need of more comprehensive emotional and concrete services.

Housing instability and child welfare: Examining the delivery of innovative services in the context of a randomized controlled trial

Child welfare-involved homeless families are at greater risk of poor social and economic outcomes compared with homeless families not involved with child welfare, and these negative outcomes reverberate in terms of economic and social costs to society. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to examine process findings from a randomized control trial from the first county-level Pay for Success initiative, Partnering for Family Success. The research compared housing, child welfare and public assistance outcomes for the treatment (N = 90) and control (N = 73) groups, explored how the program delivered its services, the service pattern over time, and perspectives of child welfare and program staff. We found that during and in the year after exiting the program, treatment group clients were less likely to use homeless services and were more likely to access public assistance benefits as compared with the control group clients, and during and after the program, the treatment and control group clients’ child maltreatment reports were not statistically significantly different. There were positive indications from quantitative data showing that the intervention patterns align with those of Critical Time Intervention (CTI), with qualitative interview data indicating shifts over time in case management focus from short-term crisis management and housing stability toward working on longer-term independent living skills. The findings contribute to the literature regarding how best to serve homeless, child welfare-involved families, and suggest the necessity for longer-term interventions and greater attention to non-housing-related needs.

Mobile resource referral technology for preventive child welfare services: Implementation and feasibility

As state and local jurisdictions in the United States prepare to implement the provisions of the 2018 Family First Preventive Services Act (FFPSA), they are faced with the large-scale challenge of making effective linkages between geographically dispersed clients and local preventive services. This pilot study applies a conceptual framework (Proctor et al., 2011) to describe implementation of a scalable, mobile community resource referral tool for use by child and family welfare caseworkers serving intact families with allegations of abuse or neglect. The study also demonstrates how data generated by use of the resource referral technology can be applied to visualize the geographic distribution of resource needs in relation to availability. Caseworkers from one urban agency were trained and given access to the mobile referral tool for a three-month observation period. Implementation data were obtained using mixed methods, including self-administered surveys, semi-structured focus group interviews with caseworkers, and metadata generated by the referral technology. Appropriateness, acceptability and feasibility outcomes were assessed. Findings establish that a mobile referral technology can be implemented with minimal training into caseworker workflows, and identify challenges that can be addressed in future iterations and implementations to reduce redundancy and prevent interruption in referral communication. Additionally, the use of mobile referral technology improved the ability of child welfare professionals to document referrals, and can provide child welfare systems with geographical information about need that will be essential for refining the preventive service continuum. Overall, the functionality of the tool and the data it generates will be important for optimizing resource referrals for preventive case management of child welfare-involved families.

Increasing Social Support for Child Welfare-Involved Families Through Family Group Conferencing

Increasing Social Support for Child Welfare-Involved Families Through Family Group Conferencing

Correction to: A Pilot Randomized Trial of a Mindfulness-Informed Intervention for Child Welfare-Involved Families

In the original online publication of this article, the direction and significance of effect sizes in Table 2 were omitted and have been included in this erratum.