IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2022i1p622-d1019636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Childhood Prevalence of Involvement with the Child Protection System in Quebec: A Longitudinal Study

Author

Listed:
  • Tonino Esposito

    (École de Travail Social, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada)

  • Johanna Caldwell

    (École de Travail Social, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada)

  • Martin Chabot

    (École de Travail Social, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada)

  • Anne Blumenthal

    (School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA)

  • Nico Trocmé

    (School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada)

  • Barbara Fallon

    (Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada)

  • Sonia Hélie

    (Institut Universitaire Jeunes en Difficulté, Montreal, QC H2L 4R5, Canada)

  • Tracie O. Afifi

    (Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada)

Abstract

The goal of this study, the first of its kind in Canada, was to estimate the child lifetime prevalence of child protection involvement in Quebec. Using administrative and population data spanning 17 years, we performed a survival analysis of initial incidents of child protection reports, confirmed reports, confirmation of a child’s security or development being compromised, and placement outside the home for one day or more. We found that before reaching the age of 18 years, over 18% of children were reported to child protection at least once, one in every ten children (10.1%) in the province had a report that led to the finding of their security or development being compromised, and over 5% were placed outside the home. We found that neglect was a primary concern in close to half (47.6%) of cases. By using a full population dataset, we obtained a more accurate prevalence estimate than studies using synthetic cohort life tables. These findings only captured initial incidents of involvement with child protection, meaning this study does not show the extent of recurrent involvement for some children. The findings reflect prior results showing that neglect is common in initial child protection involvement but less pervasive than has been shown in incidence studies, suggesting that recurrent child protection involvement is more driven by neglect than initial incidents are.

Suggested Citation

  • Tonino Esposito & Johanna Caldwell & Martin Chabot & Anne Blumenthal & Nico Trocmé & Barbara Fallon & Sonia Hélie & Tracie O. Afifi, 2022. "Childhood Prevalence of Involvement with the Child Protection System in Quebec: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:622-:d:1019636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/622/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/622/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frank Edwards & Sara Wakefield & Kieran Healy & Christopher Wildeman, 2021. "Contact with Child Protective Services is pervasive but unequally distributed by race and ethnicity in large US counties," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(30), pages 2106272118-, July.
    2. Steensma, C. & Choi, B.C.K. & Loukine, L. & Schanzer, D., 2018. "Period life tables for calculating life expectancy: Options to assess and minimize the potential for bias," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 108(3), pages 1-14.
    3. Semanchin Jones, Annette & Logan-Greene, Patricia, 2016. "Understanding and responding to chronic neglect: A mixed methods case record examination," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 212-219.
    4. Maguire-Jack, Kathryn & Font, Sarah A., 2017. "Intersections of individual and neighborhood disadvantage: Implications for child maltreatment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 44-51.
    5. Kim, H. & Wildeman, C. & Jonson-Reid, M. & Drake, B., 2017. "Lifetime prevalence of investigating child maltreatment among US children," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(2), pages 274-280.
    6. Ian Hyslop & Emily Keddell, 2018. "Outing the Elephants: Exploring a New Paradigm for Child Protection Social Work," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-13, June.
    7. Lloyd Grieger & Sheldon Danziger, 2011. "Who Receives Food Stamps During Adulthood? Analyzing Repeatable Events With Incomplete Event Histories," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1601-1614, November.
    8. J. Barth & L. Bermetz & E. Heim & S. Trelle & T. Tonia, 2013. "The current prevalence of child sexual abuse worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(3), pages 469-483, June.
    9. Sinha, Vandna & Ellenbogen, Stephen & Trocmé, Nico, 2013. "Substantiating neglect of first nations and non-aboriginal children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2080-2090.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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).
    2. Feely, Megan & Seay, Kristen D. & Loomis, Alysse M., 2019. "Harsh physical punishment as a mediator between income, re-reports and out-of-home placement in a child protective services-involved population," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 70-78.
    3. E. Jason Baron & Ezra G. Goldstein & Joseph Ryan, 2023. "The Push for Racial Equity in Child Welfare: Can Blind Removals Reduce Disproportionality?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 456-487, March.
    4. Yi, Youngmin & Edwards, Frank & Emanuel, Natalia & Lee, Hedwig & Leventhal, John M. & Waldfogel, Jane & Wildeman, Christopher, 2023. "State-level variation in the cumulative prevalence of child welfare system contact, 2015–2019," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    5. Smith, Brenda D. & Li, Qingyi & Wang, Kun & Smith, Angela M., 2021. "A national study of child maltreatment reporting at the county level: Interactions among race/ethnicity, rurality and poverty," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    6. King, Bryn & Parada, Henry & Fallon, Barbara & Escobar Olivo, Veronica & Best, Laura M. & Filippelli, Joanne, 2024. "Latin American children in Ontario child welfare: An examination of investigation disparities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Stephanie Lange & Claire-Marie Altrock & Emily Gossmann & Jörg M. Fegert & Andreas Jud, 2022. "COVID-19—What Price Do Children Pay? An Analysis of Economic and Social Policy Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Maribel Vega-Arce & Gonzalo Salas & Gastón Núñez-Ulloa & Cristián Pinto-Cortez & Ivelisse Torres Fernandez & Yuh-Shan Ho, 2019. "Research performance and trends in child sexual abuse research: a Science Citation Index Expanded-based analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(3), pages 1505-1525, December.
    9. Brizmohun, Roshini & Duffy, Patricia A., 2016. "Do Personal Attitudes about Welfare Influence Food Stamp Participation?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235698, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Kim, Hyunil & Kim, Yun Young & Song, Eun-Jee & Windsor, Liliane, 2024. "Policies to reduce child poverty and child maltreatment: A scoping review and preliminary estimates of indirect effects," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    11. Stritzel, Haley, 2022. "State-level changes in health insurance coverage and parental substance use-associated foster care entry," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    12. Andersson, Tommy & Pettersson, Rickard & Jacobsson, Maritha, 2020. "Women and men sexually violated by closely related perpetrators over a lifespan. Prevalence, revictimization, and association to adverse childhood conditions and experiences," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    13. Virginia Araceli Feliz & Sue D. Hobbs & Rose Borunda, 2022. "Strengthen and Respect Each Thread," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-11, October.
    14. Weber, Sabine & Landolt, Markus A. & Maier, Thomas & Mohler-Kuo, Meichun & Schnyder, Ulrich & Jud, Andreas, 2017. "Psychotherapeutic care for sexually-victimized children – Do service providers meet the need? Multilevel analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 165-172.
    15. Rebbe, Rebecca & Bishop, Asia S. & Ahn, Jooree & Mienko, Joseph A., 2020. "Opioid overdose events and child maltreatment indicators: Differential county-level associations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    16. Brett Drake & Melissa Jonson-Reid & Hyunil Kim, 2017. "Surveillance Bias in Child Maltreatment: A Tempest in a Teapot," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, August.
    17. 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.
    18. Cénat, Jude Mary & McIntee, Sara-Emilie & Mukunzi, Joana N. & Noorishad, Pari-Gole, 2021. "Overrepresentation of Black children in the child welfare system: A systematic review to understand and better act," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    19. Tetti Solehati & Iqbal Pramukti & Cecep Eli Kosasih & Yanti Hermayanti & Henny Suzana Mediani, 2022. "Determinants of Sexual Abuse Prevention Knowledge among Children’s Schools in West Java Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-10, July.
    20. Sanders, Jane E. & Fallon, Barbara, 2018. "Child welfare involvement and academic difficulties: Characteristics of children, families, and households involved with child welfare and experiencing academic difficulties," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 98-109.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:622-:d:1019636. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.