IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v122y2021ics0190740920323276.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Risk factors identified in prenatal child protection reports

Author

Listed:
  • Meiksans, Jenna
  • Arney, Fiona
  • Flaherty, Rosemaria
  • Octoman, Olivia
  • Chong, Alwin
  • Ward, Fiona
  • Taylor, Cathy

Abstract

The prevalence of prenatal reporting to child protection is estimated to be 3% of Australian pregnancies. Understanding risk factors associated with prenatal child protection involvement is critical in identifying the needs of families who may benefit from early intervention. This paper reports findings of a case file review examining characteristics of families reported prenatally. Unit-record administrative data were extracted for unborn children reported to child protection in a single Australian jurisdiction during 2014. Intake reports relating to a 20% random sample (n = 131 unborn children) were coded using a tailored coding guide developed for this study. Most families were reported to be experiencing three or more risk factors, including current or previous intimate partner violence (70% of families), parental alcohol and other drug use (63%), parental mental health concerns (58%) or parent criminal activity (34%). Over one-third of parents in the sample had themselves experienced abuse and neglect as children. In families with more than one child, more than 90% of older siblings of unborn children had been the subject of a previous report. Supports must address multiple co-occurring problems, often in the context of personal and familial histories of child abuse and neglect, meaning that risks are intergenerational and enduring.

Suggested Citation

  • Meiksans, Jenna & Arney, Fiona & Flaherty, Rosemaria & Octoman, Olivia & Chong, Alwin & Ward, Fiona & Taylor, Cathy, 2021. "Risk factors identified in prenatal child protection reports," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:122:y:2021:i:c:s0190740920323276
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105905
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740920323276
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105905?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. Meiksans, Jenna & McDougall, Stewart & Arney, Fiona & Flaherty, Rosemaria & Chong, Alwin & Ward, Fiona & Taylor, Cathy, 2021. "The nature of domestic and family violence reported to child protection prenatally," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    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. O'Donnell, Renee & Savaglio, Melissa & Halfpenny, Nick & Morris, Heather & Miller, Robyn & Skouteris, Helen, 2023. "A mixed-method evaluation of Cradle to Kinder: An Australian intensive home visitation program for families experiencing significant disadvantage," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(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.

      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:122:y:2021:i:c:s0190740920323276. 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.