NCJ Number
162212
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 20 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1996) Pages: 561-571
Date Published
1996
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The ability to accurately assess risk factors for child maltreatment in family foster care is essential for developing prevention and intervention strategies, yet information about foster care children involved in maltreatment episodes is severely limited.
Abstract
To obtain information on characteristics, health, and functioning parameters of maltreated children in an urban foster care program in Baltimore, Maryland, this correlational study compared 78 maltreated children with substantial maltreatment reports with a random sample of 229 nonmaltreated children in foster care during the 1984-1988 period. Foster care records were abstracted by trained assistants for all children in family foster care who had substantiated maltreatment reports. Results showed that about 50 percent of substantiated maltreatment involved sexual abuse, with the remainder involving physical abuse and neglect. Problems in health, development, and functioning were reported in the social service records of a large number of children, but children sexually abused while in foster care were significantly more likely to have a nonkinship placement and to have mental health and development problems. Physical abuse and neglect while in foster care were not associated with child health and functioning characteristics. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of the data source used. 36 references and 4 tables