IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v119y2020ics0190740920320624.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Who refers parents with intellectual disabilities to the child welfare system? An analysis of referral sources and substantiation

Author

Listed:
  • DeZelar, Sharyn
  • Lightfoot, Elizabeth

Abstract

Parents with intellectual disabilities (ID) have higher rates of child welfare involvement than their non-disabled peers. One common explanation for the high rates of child welfare involvement is that they are more likely to be referred to child protection because of their substantial, ongoing involvement with professionals who are mandated reporters. Professionals are the largest overall source of child protection referrals in the United States, however prior to this study, there has not been any exploration into referral sources in cases specifically involving parents with ID in the United States. This study explored report sources to child welfare using the 2014 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System data, comparing parents with ID, parents with other disabilities, and parents with no disabilities. Secondary data analysis showed that parents with ID and parents with other disabilities had higher odds of referral by social services personnel than parents without disabilities. Additionally, among cases that entered the system from both professional and non-professional report sources, caregivers with an ID had higher odds of case substantiation than those whose caregiver did not have an ID. Implications for practice, policy and future research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • DeZelar, Sharyn & Lightfoot, Elizabeth, 2020. "Who refers parents with intellectual disabilities to the child welfare system? An analysis of referral sources and substantiation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920320624
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105639
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740920320624
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105639?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kristen Shook Slack & Jane L. Holl & Bong Joo Lee & Marla McDaniel & Lisa Altenbernd & Amy Bush Stevens, 2003. "Child protective intervention in the context of welfare reform: The effects of work and welfare on maltreatment reports," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(4), pages 517-536.
    2. Drake, Brett & Lee, Sang Moo & Jonson-Reid, Melissa, 2009. "Race and child maltreatment reporting: Are Blacks overrepresented?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 309-316, March.
    3. Lightfoot, Elizabeth & Laliberte, Traci & Cho, Minhae, 2017. "A case record review of termination of parental rights cases involving parents with a disability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 399-407.
    4. Kim, Hyunil & Drake, Brett & Jonson-Reid, Melissa, 2018. "An examination of class-based visibility bias in national child maltreatment reporting," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 165-173.
    5. Lightfoot, Elizabeth & DeZelar, Sharyn, 2016. "The experiences and outcomes of children in foster care who were removed because of a parental disability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 22-28.
    6. Wells, Susan J. & Merritt, Lani M. & Briggs, Harold E., 2009. "Bias, racism and evidence-based practice: The case for more focused development of the child welfare evidence base," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(11), pages 1160-1171, November.
    7. Jake Olivier & Warren L. May & Melanie L. Bell, 2017. "Relative effect sizes for measures of risk," Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(14), pages 6774-6781, July.
    8. Slayter, Elspeth M. & Jensen, Jordan, 2019. "Parents with intellectual disabilities in the child protection system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 297-304.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. LaBrenz, Catherine A. & Littleton, Tenesha & Shipe, Stacey L. & Bai, Rong & Stargel, Lauren, 2023. "State policies on child maltreatment and racial disproportionality," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emily Keddell & Gabrielle Davie, 2018. "Inequalities and Child Protection System Contact in Aotearoa New Zealand: Developing a Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Kim, Hyunil & Drake, Brett & Jonson-Reid, Melissa, 2018. "An examination of class-based visibility bias in national child maltreatment reporting," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 165-173.
    3. Emily Keddell, 2022. "Mechanisms of Inequity: The Impact of Instrumental Biases in the Child Protection System," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, May.
    4. Fred Wulczyn & Xiaomeng Zhou & Jamie McClanahan & Scott Huhr & Kristen Hislop & Forrest Moore & Emily Rhodes, 2023. "Race, Poverty, and Foster Care Placement in the United States: Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-19, August.
    5. LaBrenz, Catherine A. & Littleton, Tenesha & Shipe, Stacey L. & Bai, Rong & Stargel, Lauren, 2023. "State policies on child maltreatment and racial disproportionality," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Bywaters, Paul & Brady, Geraldine & Sparks, Tim & Bos, Elizabeth & Bunting, Lisa & Daniel, Brigid & Featherstone, Brid & Morris, Kate & Scourfield, Jonathan, 2015. "Exploring inequities in child welfare and child protection services: Explaining the ‘inverse intervention law’," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 98-105.
    7. Slayter, Elspeth M. & Jensen, Jordan, 2019. "Parents with intellectual disabilities in the child protection system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 297-304.
    8. Wulczyn, Fred, 2020. "Race/ethnicity and running away from foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    9. F. Vergunst & R. E. Tremblay & D. Nagin & Y. Zheng & Cedric Galera & J. Park & E. Beasley & Yann Algan & F. Vitaro & Sylvana M. Cote, 2020. "Inattention in boys from low-income backgrounds predicts welfare receipt: a 30-year prospective study," Post-Print hal-03147221, HAL.
    10. Lin, Ching-Hsuan, 2014. "Evaluating Services for Kinship Care Families: A Systematic Review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 32-41.
    11. Collins, Cyleste C. & Bai, Rong & Fischer, Robert & Crampton, David & Lalich, Nina & Liu, Chun & Chan, Tsui, 2020. "Housing instability and child welfare: Examining the delivery of innovative services in the context of a randomized controlled trial," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    12. Warren, Emily J. & Drazen, Yonah N. & Curtis, Marah A., 2017. "Public housing agency preferences for the homeless as a policy lever: Examining county-level housing subsidy receipt and maltreatment rates," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 81-88.
    13. Miller, Keva M. & Cahn, Katharine & Orellana, E. Roberto, 2012. "Dynamics that contribute to racial disproportionality and disparity: Perspectives from child welfare professionals, community partners, and families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2201-2207.
    14. Millett, Lina & Lanier, Paul & Drake, Brett, 2011. "Are economic trends associated with child maltreatment? Preliminary results from the recent recession using state level data," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1280-1287, July.
    15. Rolock, Nancy, 2011. "New methodology: Measuring racial or ethnic disparities in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1531-1537, September.
    16. Garcia, Antonio R. & Circo, Elizabeth & DeNard, Christina & Hernandez, Natalie, 2015. "Barriers and facilitators to delivering effective mental health practice strategies for youth and families served by the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 110-122.
    17. Wells, Kathleen & Guo, Shenyang, 2006. "Welfare reform and child welfare outcomes: A multiple-cohort study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 941-960, August.
    18. Malte Sandner & Stephan L. Thomsen & Libertad González Luna, 2020. "Preventing child maltreatment: Beneficial side effects of public childcare provision," Economics Working Papers 1744, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    19. Kahn, Nicholas E. & Hansen, Mary Eschelbach, 2017. "Measuring racial disparities in foster care placement: A case study of Texas," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 213-226.
    20. Wells, Susan J. & Merritt, Lani M. & Briggs, Harold E., 2009. "Bias, racism and evidence-based practice: The case for more focused development of the child welfare evidence base," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(11), pages 1160-1171, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920320624. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.