Publications

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Child Protective Services May Link Families to Needed Income Supports
Wendy Walsh, Marybeth Mattingly
June 16, 2015
The adverse effects of poverty on child and adolescent development are well documented and have been of interest to policy makers for several decades.1 Childhood poverty has a number of lasting impacts, including negative educational and cognitive outcomes, social and emotional behavior problems, poor adult economic outcomes, and health problems.2 For some children, these challenges are coupled...
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Related Foster Parents Less Likely to Receive Support Services Compared With Nonrelative Foster Parents
Wendy Walsh, Marybeth Mattingly
July 15, 2014
This brief identifies gaps in support services among foster parents using data from a nationally representative survey of children involved in the child welfare system (the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being).
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Informal Kinship Care Most Common Out-of-Home Placement After an Investigation of Child Maltreatment
Wendy Walsh
February 12, 2013
This fact sheet examines differences between urban and rural areas in foster care placement with informal kin caregivers. The data for this analysis come from a national sample of children who had a maltreatment report that resulted in an investigation: the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being.
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Psychotropic Medication Use Among Children in the Child Welfare System
Wendy Walsh, Marybeth Mattingly
January 22, 2013
Prior research demonstrates that children in the child welfare system are given psychotropic medication at rates approximately three times higher than children and adolescents in the general population.
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Understanding Child Abuse in Rural and Urban America: Risk Factors and Maltreatment Substantiation
Marybeth Mattingly, Wendy Walsh
May 30, 2012
Using a large national sample of child maltreatment reports, this brief compares the outcomes of child maltreatment cases in rural versus urban places and identifies the characteristics associated with substantiation. Child abuse cases substantiated in rural and urban areas share many caregiver risk factors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, and many family stressors.
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Long-Term Foster Care—Different Needs, Different Outcomes
Marybeth Mattingly, Wendy Walsh
June 21, 2011
This brief examines where foster children are living four years after removal from their homes and the characteristics of these children and their placements. Understanding whether child characteristics such as age or emotional or behavioral problems are associated with a longer stay in out-of-home care can help identify children who are least likely to find permanence and may benefit from...
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Hard Times Made Harder: Struggling Caregivers and Child Neglect
Wendy Walsh
November 29, 2010
Poverty is only one of many challenges tied to a report of child neglect. The analysis in this brief finds that neglected children whose caregivers struggle with substance abuse and mental health problems are at significant risk for out-of-home placement. Risk factors for out-of-home placement for neglected children are discussed, as well as a multifaceted approach to services to prevent neglect...
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Rural Families with a Child Abuse Report are More Likely Headed by a Single Parent and Endure Economic and Family Stress
Marybeth Mattingly, Wendy Walsh
January 1, 2010
This brief, which is based on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, finds that rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services are more likely than urban families to have financial difficulties and high family stress, as well as grow up in single-parent households. To effectively address these issues, the brief urges policy makers to look at the lack...