Profiles of Resilience from Early to Middle Childhood among Children Known to Child Protection Services.

OBJECTIVE: The processes facilitating resilience are likely to be influenced by individual, familial and contextual factors that are dynamic across the life-course. These factors have been less studied in relation to resilience profiles evident in the developmental period between early to middle childhood, relative to later periods of adolescence or adulthood. METHOD: This study examined factors associated with resilience in a cohort of 4,716 children known to child protection services by age 13 years, in the Australian State of New South Wales. Latent profile and transition analyses were used to identify multi-dimensional profiles of resilience as evident in social, emotional and cognitive functioning when assessed in early childhood (time 1 [T1], age 5-6 years) and middle childhood (time 2 [T2], age 10-11 years). Logistic regression models were used to investigate factors associated with two types of resilience identified: a transition profile of stress-resistance (i.e., represented by a typically developing profile at both T1 and T2) delineated in the largest subgroup (54%) of children, and a smaller subgroup (13%) with a profile of emergent resilience (i.e., typically developing at T2 following a vulnerable profile at T1). RESULTS: Factors associated with resilience profiles included being female, and personality characteristics of openness and extraversion; other factors associated with stress-resistance, specifically, included higher socioeconomic status, non-Indigenous background, higher perceived port at home and at school, and not having a parent with a history of criminal offending. CONCLUSIONS: Resilience processes appear to involve a complex interplay between individual, family, and community characteristics requiring interagency support.

Childhood Maltreatment and Early Developmental Vulnerabilities at Age 5 Years.

This study examined associations between maltreatment and early developmental vulnerabilities in a population sample of 68,459 children (Mage  = 5.62 years, SD = .37) drawn from the Australian state of New South Wales, using linked administrative data for the children and their parents (collected 2001-2009). Associations were estimated between (a) any maltreatment, (b) the number of maltreatment types, and (c) the timing of first reported maltreatment and vulnerability and risk status on multiple developmental domains (i.e., physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication). Pervasive associations were revealed between maltreatment and all developmental domains; children exposed to two or more maltreatment types, and with first maltreatment reported after 3 years of age, showed greater likelihood of vulnerability on multiple domains, relative to nonmaltreated children.

Out-of-home care characteristics associated with childhood educational underachievement, mental disorder, and police contacts in an Australian population sample.

BACKGROUND: Children in out-of-home care (OOHC) are generally at increased risk of health and social adversities compared to their peers. However, the experiences of children in OOHC are not uniform and their associated health and social indices may vary in relation to characteristics of OOHC placements and child protection contact. OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between a range of characteristics of OOHC placements and child protection contact (e.g., number, type, and age of placement) with educational underachievement, mental disorder, and police contact (as a victim, witness, or person of interest) in childhood. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants were Australian children drawn from the New South Wales Child Development Study cohort who had been placed in OOHC at least once between the ages of 0-13 years (n = 2082). METHODS: Logistic regression was used to examine prospective associations of OOHC placement and child protection contact characteristics (type of carer, placement instability, duration and frequency of maltreatment, and amount of time in care) with educational underachievement, mental disorder diagnosis and any type of police contact. RESULTS: Placements with foster carers, greater placement instability, longer and more frequent exposure to maltreatment, and longer time spent in care were each associated with greater likelihood of consequences in all domains of functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Children with certain placement characteristics are at higher risk of adverse consequences and should be prioritised for support services. The magnitude of relationships was not uniform across different health and social indices, highlighting the need for holistic, multiagency approaches to support children placed in care.

Reading and numeracy attainment of children reported to child protection services: A population record linkage study controlling for other adversities.

BACKGROUND: Maltreated children are at risk of poor educational outcomes, but also experience greater individual, family, and neighbourhood adversities that may obscure an understanding of relationships between child protection involvement and educational attainment. OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between child protection involvement and 3rd- and 5th-grade reading and numeracy attainment, while controlling multiple other adversities. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants were 56,860 Australian children and their parents from the New South Wales Child Development Study with linked multi-agency records. METHODS: Multinomial logistic regressions examined associations between level of child protection involvement (Out-Of-Home Care [OOHC] placement; substantiated Risk Of Significant Harm [ROSH]; unsubstantiated ROSH; non-ROSH; and no child protection report) and standardised tests of 3rd- and 5th-grade reading and numeracy. Fully adjusted models controlled demographic, pregnancy, birth, and parental factors, and early (kindergarten) developmental vulnerabilities on literacy and numeracy, and other developmental domains (social, emotional, physical, communication). RESULTS: All children with child protection reports were more likely to attain below average, and less likely to attain above average, 3rd- and 5th-grade reading and numeracy, including children with reports below the ROSH threshold. Children with substantiated ROSH reports who were not removed into care demonstrated the worst educational attainment, with some evidence of protective effects for children in OOHC. CONCLUSIONS: A cross-agency response to supporting educational attainment for all children reported to child protection services is required, including targeted services for children in OOHC or with substantiated ROSH reports, and referral of vulnerable families (unsubstantiated and non-ROSH cases) to secondary service organisations (intermediate intervention).

Timing of the first report and highest level of child protection response in association with early developmental vulnerabilities in an Australian population cohort.

BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment is associated with early childhood developmental vulnerabilities. However, the extent to which higher levels of child protection responses confer benefit to developmental competencies, and the impact of earlier timing of first reports in relation to early childhood vulnerability remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between early developmental vulnerabilities and (1) the highest level of child protection response (where OOHC was deemed the highest response among other types of reports/responses), and (2) the developmental timing of the first child protection report. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants included 67,027 children from the New South Wales Child Development Study, of whom 10,944 were reported to child protection services up to age 5 years. METHODS: A series of Multinomial Logistic Regressions were conducted to examine focal associations. RESULTS: Children with substantiated maltreatment reports showed the strongest odds of vulnerability on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 4.90; 95% CI = 4.13-5.80); children placed in OOHC showed slightly better physical, cognitive and communication competencies (adjusted ORs from 1.83 to 2.65) than those with substantiated reports that did not result in OOHC placements (adjusted OR from 2.77 to 3.67), when each group was compared to children with no child protection reports. Children with first maltreatment reports occurring in the first 18 months of life showed the strongest likelihood of developmental vulnerabilities on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 3.56; 95% CI = 3.15-4.01) relative to children with no child protection reports. CONCLUSION: Earlier reports of maltreatment may signal the need for targeted remediation of early developmental competencies to mitigate early developmental difficulties.

Inter-agency indicators of out-of-home-care placement by age 13-14 years: A population record linkage study.

BACKGROUND: Cross-agency administrative data can improve cost-effective triage systems for child protection and other human service delivery. OBJECTIVE: To determine the minimum set of cross-agency indicators that could accurately classify placement in out-of-home-care (OOHC) before age 13-14 years. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants were 72,079 Australian children (mean age = 13.16 years; SD = 0.37; 51.4% male) and their parents, for whom linked administrative records spanning the years 1994-2016 were available for analysis within the 'New South Wales Child Development Study'. METHODS: First, a series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between cross-agency (health, justice, education) risk indicators and membership of the sub-cohort of 1239 children who had an OOHC placement prior to age 13-14 years, relative to (1) the sub-cohort of 55,473 children who had no previous contact with child protection services, and (2) the sub-cohort of 15,367 children who had been reported to child protection services but had no record of OOHC placement. We then explored the classification characteristics associated with a smaller combination of risk factors, and the utility of specific familial risk factors, for classifying membership of the OOHC subgroup. RESULTS: A combination of six risk indicators evident before OOHC placement can classify children placed in OOHC with approximately 95% accuracy, and the presence of at least four of these risk indicators provides excellent specificity (99.6%). CONCLUSIONS: A combination of risk factors observable in administrative datasets held by multiple government agencies may be used to target support services to prevent entry into OOHC for children from vulnerable families.