Bias in child maltreatment reporting: revisiting the myth of classlessness.

Data on the degree of class bias in child protective services databases are reviewed, along with recent empirical findings on the class distribution of child maltreatment. The evidence suggests high levels of child abuse and neglect among the poor and, despite debate on the question, there is no body of empirical data suggesting that these findings are a product of bias predisposing toward overestimates of child maltreatment among the poor. Implications for research, practice, and policy are offered.

Sources of health care and health needs among children in kinship care.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the characteristics of children in kinship care and their caregivers who have access to health care (a single source of health care or a single provider), and to determine the relation between indicators of access and health needs. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: A large eastern city. SUBJECTS: Two hundred ten children selected from households with children in kinship care in April 1989. METHODS: Data were obtained from medical records, access and demographic questionnaires, and a medical and psychologic evaluation. RESULTS: A single facility for health care was reported by 93% of the sample; two thirds of those identified one health care provider. One source of care or one provider was associated with variables such as young age at placement and medical assistance insurance. Children who did not have a single source of care were more likely to have unmet health needs (87% vs 61%, P < .05), especially unmet mental health needs (60% vs 31%, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Children in kinship care had good access to health care, but the level of unmet health needs was high. Children who did not have a single source of health care were more likely to have unmet health needs, especially unmet mental health needs. These findings have implications for future health care planning for children in out-of-home care.

Unplanned childbearing and family size: their relationship to child neglect and abuse.

Mothers from 198 low-income, female-headed families enrolled in child protective services because of child abuse or neglect were compared with an equal number of age-matched controls, to determine if unplanned childbearing and family size increase the risk of child neglect or abuse. Logistic regression analyses suggest that unplanned childbearing increases the risk of child abuse but not of child neglect. Large family size significantly raises the risk of both types of maltreatment, although this factor had a greater effect on the risk of abuse than on the risk of neglect. Finally, unplanned childbearing appears to be indirectly related to abuse through its effect on family size.

The ecology of child abuse and neglect: review of the literature and presentation of data.

This report assesses current knowledge about the ecological determinants of child maltreatment and presents data from an aggregate study of co-variation between seven community characteristics and maltreatment rates. A review of these findings revealed literature in the early stages of development. Nothing is known about the ecology of sexual abuse, and studies of physical abuse and neglect have done little more than demonstrate co-variation between reported incidence and neighborhood population and housing characteristics. Study findings reveal that (a) five of the seven community characteristics are significant and independent correlates of neglect, and four are correlates of abuse; (b) the strongest predictors of both types of maltreatment are percentage of families with income less than 200% of poverty and percent of vacant housing; and (c) the pattern of co-variation between the two economic stress indicators and three inadequate social support indicators are consistent with the ecological hypothesis. Discussion focuses on interpretation of findings and recommendations for future research.