Supporting Children Experiencing Family Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic: IPV and CPS Provider Perspectives.

OBJECTIVES: Children experiencing family violence (child abuse and neglect and exposure to intimate partner violence) are at a particularly elevated risk for compounding challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we interviewed intimate partner violence (IPV) advocates, child protective services (CPS) caseworkers, and IPV and CPS administrators on the needs of children experiencing family violence during the pandemic. METHODS: We conducted semistructured interviews with IPV advocates, CPS caseworkers, and IPV and CPS administrators. Recruitment occurred through emails to national and state listservs, networks of the study team, and word of mouth. Interviews were completed through Zoom, took 45 to 60 minutes and were audio recorded. We used a mixed deductive-inductive content analysis approach. RESULTS: Fifty-nine IPV advocates, 35 IPV administrators, 21 CPS workers and 16 CPS administrators participated in this study. Four themes emerged from this work. Participants discussed the role of social isolation, school closures, and distance learning on children experiencing family violence. They also noted child custody and visitation challenges, particularly in the context of abusive partners using custody to control IPV survivors and limitations to virtual visitation more broadly. Compounding challenges were described for children from marginalized communities due to structural-level inequities. Collaboration was discussed by participants from both IPV and CPS sectors. CONCLUSION: This study is one of the first to describe the way the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children experiencing family violence. Future studies should triangulate these results with children, families, and other child-serving providers.

Child maltreatment data in the state of New Mexico across space and time.

Child maltreatment is a serious public health problem. Previous research demonstrates that child maltreatment clusters in low-income, racially homogenous neighborhoods. Little is known, however, about the structural correlates of spatial risk in small areas such as census tracts. Here we present additional information regarding the data and methods used in the recent article published in Child Abuse & Neglect entitled "Variability and stability in child maltreatment risk across time and space and its association with neighborhood social & housing vulnerability in New Mexico: A Bayesian space-time model" [1]. The present dataset merges child maltreatment data from the New Mexico Department of Public Health with multiple sources of publicly available data to create a novel public health analysis. Bayesian spatio-temporal modeling techniques were used to map the relative risk of substantiated child maltreatment across census tracts in the state, and to elucidate spatial and temporal heterogeneity in risk. The data was initially collected by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, the state organization that suspected child abuse and neglect cases are reported to and the organization that then substantiates these cases. The data were then sent to the New Mexico Community Data Collaborative, a data analytic organization under the umbrella of the New Mexico Department of Health. The point file consisting of home addresses of substantiated cases of child abuse was then aggregated by census tract, mapped for the entire state of New Mexico and made available to the public for research and analysis by different public health organizations and researchers (including the present researchers). The very purpose of making the data available to the public was to allow deeper investigations into trends and associations with other social determinants of health. This analysis demonstrates the public health importance of data sharing and accessibility.

Variability and stability in child maltreatment risk across time and space and its association with neighborhood social & housing vulnerability in New Mexico: A bayesian space-time model.

BACKGROUND: Modeling the spatio-temporal characteristics of substantiated child maltreatment risk has significant implications for child welfare policy. OBJECTIVE: This study quantifies the spatiotemporal risk of child abuse and neglect in New Mexico at the census tract level over 9 years, identifies areas of increased risk, and evaluates the role of multiple measures of social and housing insecurity on substantiated child maltreatment referrals. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Child maltreatment substantiation data across 499 census tracts from 2007 to 2015 were obtained from the New Mexico Department of Public Health. METHODS: Substantiated referral counts were analyzed within census tracts with Bayesian hierarchical space-time models using Laplace approximation. Standardized incidence ratios, spatial risk, and probability exceedances were calculated and mapped. RESULTS: Multiple neighborhood structural factors were associated with an increased risk of substantiated child maltreatment, including the eviction rate (Incidence Density Ratio [IDR] = 1.09 [95 % CrI = 1.01-1.12]), rent burden (IDR = 1.11 [95 % CrI = 1.01-1.13]), urban tracts (IDR = 1.36 [95 % CrI = 1.05-1.77]), food desert tracts (IDR = 1.21 [95 % CrI = 1.04-1.41]), low income tracts (IDR = 1.27 [95 % CrI = 1.09-1.49]), percent of households with no vehicle access ([IDR] = 1.27 [95 % CrI = .247-6.47]), and percent of persons with a disability (IDR = 1.05 [95 % CrI = 1.03-1.06]). The racial/ethnic diversity ratio, however, was associated with lower incidence of child maltreatment allegation risk (IDR = .988 [95 % CrI = .982-.995]). CONCLUSIONS: Population-based child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention efforts should be aided by the characteristics of neighborhoods that demonstrate strong spatial patterns of household and housing vulnerability, particularly in low income, racially segregated neighborhoods.

Childhood abuse and community violence: Risk factors for youth violence.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the joint effect of child abuse and neglect (CAN) and community violence (CV) on adolescents with peers that commit youth violence (YV). METHODS: This is a school-based cross-sectional study of 699 students enrolled in four public and nine private schools in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants were selected through a complex cluster sampling procedure. CAN was identified using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Exposure to CV was assessed by asking students if they have witnessed cases of lethal violence in the community. YV was measured indirectly through questions about having friends who have committed acts of crime. Multivariate logistic models were used to study the effects of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect in childhood on YV, controlled for confounders, according to different levels of CV. RESULTS: Emotional abuse OR = 3.32 (CI 95%: 1.79-6.17), sexual abuse OR = 2.33 (CI 95%: 1.20-4.54), and physical neglect OR = 1.81 (CI 95%: 1.02-3.20) increased the odds of YV in adolescents, whether cooccurring with CV or not. Physical abuse OR = 3.95 (CI 95%: 2.29 - 6.80) and emotional neglect OR = 2.93 (CI 95%: 1.83-4.72) are only risk factors for YV involvement when associated with CV. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the relevance of CAN and CV as risk factors for YV and the potential increase in adolescents' vulnerability when exposed to both. Policies aiming at preventing and dealing with CAN are essential strategies to reduce YV, especially in areas with high levels of CV.

The Cultural Adaptation of a Community-Based Child Maltreatment Prevention Initiative.

A unique primary prevention effort, Strong Communities for Children (Strong Communities), focuses on changing attitudes and expectations regarding communities' collective responsibilities for the safety of children. Findings from a 6-year pilot of the initiative in South Carolina have shown promise in reducing child maltreatment, but efforts to adapt the initiative to different cultural contexts have been lacking. No models exist for adapting an initiative that takes a community-level approach to ensuring children's safety. Thus, this article addresses the gap by providing an overview of the original initiative, how the initiative was adapted to the Israeli context, and lessons learned from the experience. Building on conceptualizations of cultural adaptation by Castro et al. (Prevention Science, 5, 2004, 41) and Resnicow et al. (Ethnicity and Disease, 9, 1999, 11), sources of nonfit (i.e., sociodemographic traits, political conflict, government services, and the presence and role of community organizations) were identified and deep and surface structure modifications were made to the content and delivery. Ultimately, this article describes the adaption and dissemination of a community-based child maltreatment prevention initiative in Tel Aviv, Israel, and addresses researchers' calls for more publications describing the adaptation of interventions and the procedures that need to be implemented to achieve cultural relevance.

A national study on the prevalence of child abuse and neglect in Suriname.

The prevalence of child maltreatment in Suriname has never been subjected to a reliable assessment. The only data available include rough estimates of a range of internationally comparable indicators extrapolated from child protection and police corps statistics for offenses against children. This study aimed to provide a reliable estimate of the prevalence of all forms of child maltreatment in Suriname. One thousand three hundred and ninety-one (1,391) adolescents and young adults of different ethnicities completed a questionnaire about child maltreatment. The study sample, obtained by random probability sampling, consisted of students (ages 12 through 22) from five districts in Suriname. A significant proportion of Surinamese children experienced maltreatment. In total, 86.8% of adolescents and 95.8% of young adults reported having been exposed to at least one form of child maltreatment during their lives. Among the adolescents, 57.1% were exposed to child maltreatment in the past year. When the definition of the National Incidence Study was applied, 58.2% of adolescents and 68.8% of young adults had been exposed to at least one form of maltreatment. Among adolescents, 36.8% reported having experienced at least one form of maltreatment in the past year. The results indicate the (extremely) high lifetime and year prevalence of child maltreatment in Suriname. The serious and often lifelong consequences of such maltreatment indicate that a national approach to child abuse and neglect, including the development of a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system and changes to the state's programmatic and policy response, is urgently needed.

Niños en circunstancias especialmente difíciles: Venezuela 2000-2009 / Children in specially difficult circumstances: Venezuela 2000-2009

A partir de la revisión teórica-conceptual e histórica de los efectos de las diversas formas de violencia contra los niños y del vertiginoso crecimiento de la violencia en el país, se analiza la información de Programa de Atención de Niños en Circunstancias Especialmente Dificiles, Defensoria de Niños ubicada en Barquisimeto, Estado Lara. Se revisaron los informes anuales del lapso 2000-2009, para conocer mejor, con estadísticas nacioanles, las características de "niños en circunstancias especialmente dificiles", según nomenclatura del Fondo de la Naciones Unidas para la Infancia, en el área de violencia. Algunos informes no registran todos los rubros. Resultados: 11893 casos: la mitad de sexo femenino. En el conjunto de todos los tipos de niños atendidos, los principales diagnosticos fueron: "Riesgo social"; maltrato sexual; maltrato físico; transtorno de conducta e intento de suicidio. algunos de ellos tuvieron incrementos inesperados en el lapso. Principales agresores identificados: madre, otro familiar, padre, vecino. Maltrato sexual (n: 1598). El número absoluto de maltratos sexuales aumentó casi el doble entre el inicio y el final del decenio. La frecuencia de victimas femeninas casi triplicó la de varones. Los grupos de 5 a 14 años (femenino) y menores de 9 años (masculino), registraron la mayor proporción. Los agresores de niñas fueron adultos en la mayoría de los casos. La mitad de los agresores de varones eran adolescentes. Los nexos agresor víctima más frecuentes: "otro familiar" y "vecino" para ambos sexos. Se compara con otras investigaciones. Entre otras propuestas, se recomienda acordar una nomenclatura única, que registre todos los datos en forma sistemática y permita unificarlos, compararlos y desarrollar investigaciones y acciones ulteriores

From the theoretical-conceptual and historical review of the effects of the diverse forms of violence against children and of the dizzy growth of the violence in the country, there is analyzed the information of the Program of Children's Attention in Spacially Difficult Circumstances, Children's Defensoría located in Barquisimeto, Lara state. The annual report of the lapse was checked between 2000-2009, to investigate the characteristics of "children in specially difficult circumstances", according to nomenclature of the Fund of the United Nationals for Infancy, in the area of violence, Some reports do not register all the items. Results: 11893 children (18-year-old minor persons), with the above mentioned diagnosis. We found; 52% feminine sex. Order In all the attended children: "Social risk"; sexual abuse; physical abuse; disorder of conduct, and attempt of suicide. Some of them also increased. Identified aggressors: mother, another relative, father and neighbor. Sexual abuse (n=1598). The absolute number of sexual type increased near 100% from the begining to the last five years. The frequency of feminine victims almost trebled that of males. The most numerous groups were those of 5 to 14 years (feminine) and below 9 year old masculine. The teen aggressors acted against children males; 50% and against girls: 20%. The most frequent aggressor victim link were: "another relative" and "neighbor" for both sexes. It is compared with other investigations. Among other recommendations, it is important to accord only one nomenclature and develop new investigations and further actions