PROTECTIVE SERVICES

How Can I Improved Child Protective Services

How Can I Improved Child Protective Services

Introduction

Child maltreatment is a major public health problem, with about 3.3 million referrals involving the alleged maltreatment of approximately 6.0 million children in 2005 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). Most maltreated children (90%) involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) are not placed in out-of-home care and remain with their caregivers (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). Changes toward more appropriate and positive parenting behaviors are considered critical precursors to reductions in the risk of future child maltreatment (MacLeod & Nelson, 2000).

Thus, in order to better protect abused children, the Child Welfare System (CWS) typically offers services to improve the parenting provided by children's caregivers.

For the great majority of parents, poor parenting and child maltreatment are associated with stress (Cummings, 1998). In their model concerning factors affecting parenting behavior through child welfare programs, Chase-Lansdale and Pittman (2002) have identified several sources of stress that may affect parenting, including parent and child characteristics, kin and social networks, economic resources, and quality of partner relationships.

A substantial body of literature supports an approach based on the analysis of sources of stress. Belsky (1984) has proposed three sources of influence in parental functioning: (1) the parents' personal developmental history, personality, and psychological well-being; (2) the child's characteristics, which make him or her more or less difficult to care for; and (3) contextual sources of stress and support, including the marital relationship and social networks.

Determinants of Parenting

Among mothers' characteristics influencing maternal parenting are her having been maltreated as a child, age, mental health, alcohol abuse, and race/ethnicity. Many studies report that maternal history of having been maltreated as a child is associated with mothers' being at risk for poor parenting and child maltreatment (Barnett et al., 1997, Black et al., 2001 and Coohey, 2004). Young maternal age has been associated with harsher parenting (Straus, Hamby, Finkelhor, Moore, & Runyan, 1998) and maltreatment reports (Connelly and Straus, 1992, Cox et al., 2003 and Sedlack and Broadhurst, 1996).

Maternal mental health, particularly depression, also has been associated with limited responsiveness to the child's needs and to poor parenting (Cadzow et al., 1999 S.P. Cadzow, K.L. Armstrong and J.A. Fraser, Stressed parents with infants: Reassessing physical abuse risk factors, Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal 23 (9) (1999), pp. 845-853. Cadzow et al., 1999, Kotch et al., 1999 and Kotch et al., 1997).

Thus, studies show that depressed mothers are more likely than nondepressed mothers to be insensitive toward the child and to inappropriately read the child's cues and signs (Cassell and Coleman, 1995, Cohn et al., 1986, Cox et al., 2000 and Field, 1995); they are less likely than nondepressed mothers to display positive behaviors toward the child, maintain daily routines with the child, and read and play with the child (Lyons-Ruth, Wolfe, & Lyubchik, 2000). Alcohol abuse by mothers has consistently been associated with impaired parenting (Ammerman et al., 1999 and Mayes, 1995), unrealistic expectations of child ...