Citation

Bae HO, Solomon PL, Gelles RJ, White T. Child Welf. 2010; 89(3): 33-55.

Affiliation

Gyeongsang National University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Child Welfare League of America)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

20945804

Abstract

This study examined how child protective services (CPS) systems respond to initial and subsequent reports in the context of child maltreatment re-reporting and to what extent CPS system factors are associated with the risk of re-reporting after controlling for abuse type and child and family factors. This study followed 67,243 families who were reported to the CPS agencies in seven counties in Florida for child abuse and neglect over a period of 5.4 years and found that 14,218 families had one or more child maltreatment re-reports. Key findings include that CPS system factors were significantly different from initial report to subsequent reports. Five CPS system factors, reporting source, contact by CPS workers, investigative level at intake, post-investigation services, and duration of CPS involvement were significantly associated with the risk of child maltreatment re-reporting. Multivariate analyses found that CPS system factors were substantially different for three categories of re-reporting, unsubstantiated re-reports, substantiated re-reports, and recurrence reports. Interpretations and implications for practice are discussed.

Language: en