Why Are Suspected Cases of Child Maltreatment Referred by Educators so often Unsubstantiated?

• NCJ Number: 245296
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2014 Pages: 1-10
• Author(s): Colin B. King; Katreena L. Scott
• Date Published: January 2014
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research)
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This Canadian study determined whether or not there are systematic differences in the characteristics of child-maltreatment cases reported by educators compared to such reports by other professionals, as well as whether or not any differences found might account for differences in the outcomes of case investigations.

Abstract

Of the study's 7,725 cases of suspected child maltreatment referred by professionals to child protective services, 35.8 percent were made by school professionals. Compared to the cases reported by other professionals, those reported by educators were found to contain significantly more child risk factors (e.g., child emotional and behavioral problems) and fewer caregiver and family risk factors (e.g., caregiver mental health problem and single-parent family). The study of investigative outcomes for cases referred by educators compared to those referred by other professionals found that educators' referrals were significantly more likely to be unsubstantiated (45.3 percent compared to 28.4 percent for other professionals). A comparison of the features of the suspected and substantiated cases found that the cases reported by educators were significantly more likely to be judged as chronic and to involve families with a previous child-protection history. The authors conclude that these findings suggest the need for the systems of education and child protection to improve their cooperation in detecting cases of child maltreatment. Additional research is needed to determine which child risk factors and problems may be "flagged" by child protective services for more thorough investigations, particularly in the context of chronic abuse and neglect and the lack of mental health or child- protective histories in referred cases. The cases selected for examination were obtained from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect - 2003, a national database on the characteristics of children and families investigated by child protective services. 4 tables and 36 references