NCJ Number
216911
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 30 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2006 Pages: 1181-1199
Date Published
November 2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study identifies factors related to involvement with child protective services among current and former welfare recipients after welfare reform legislation was enacted in the United States in 1996.
Abstract
The study findings suggest that employment may have increased the stress levels of current or former welfare recipients without prior work experience, which may have increased their risk for minor child-rearing abuses. The link between work and involvement with CPS differed by work experience prior to welfare reform. As the percentage of months that a former welfare recipients worked increased after welfare reform, the risk of being investigated by CPS declined among those with prior work experience; however, the risk of CPS involvement increased among those without prior work experience. Still, work variables were not significant predictors of supervision by CPS after an initial investigation. Factors associated with the probability of being either investigated or supervised by CPS were being White, being in a cohabiting partnership, childhood welfare receipt, having a learning disability, having a large number of children, being newly divorced, living in a high problem neighborhood, and being convicted of a crime. Data for this study were obtained from the Women's Employment Study, a longitudinal analysis of randomly selected welfare recipients who were living in a Michigan City in 1997 (n=541). The identification of risk factors for CPS involvement among current and former welfare recipients was done through multinomial logit analyses with 29 independent variables and a 3-part dependent variable. The dependent variable consisted of no CPS involvement, investigation only, and supervision by CPS after investigation. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 46 references