Citation

Armfield JM, Gnanamanickam E, Nguyen HT, Doidge JC, Brown DS, Preen DB, Segal L. Child Maltreat. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Australian Centre for Precision Health, Cancer Research Institute, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559520907682

PMID

32166980

Abstract

Greater school absenteeism is associated with numerous negative educational outcomes. We used a retrospective cohort design with linked administrative data on 296,422 children to examine the relationship between school absenteeism and child protection system (CPS) involvement. Children with substantiated maltreatment had 4.1 times more unexplained and problem absences than children with no CPS involvement. In multivariate analyses, children with substantiated maltreatment had significantly greater "chronic" truancy (OR = 3.41) and less "acceptable" levels of absences (OR = 0.74) compared to children with no CPS involvement. Greater absenteeism was seen for children with substantiated neglect and who had their first CPS notification earlier in life. Being in out-of-home care for 3+ years was a protective factor for children who had a CPS notification before age 5. Additional adversities had a strong additive effect with CPS involvement on absenteeism and chronic truancy. This study demonstrates the potential scope for reducing problem absenteeism and helps inform the public debate regarding how the type and timing of CPS involvement might ameliorate or exacerbate harm for children.

Language: en

Keywords

child abuse; child maltreatment; child protective services; cohort studies; school functioning