Determinants of maltreatment substantiation in a sample of infants involved with the child welfare system

Infant Placement in Canadian Child Maltreatment-Related Investigations

“…We did not analyse sexual abuse due to its low prevalence in infants. We analysed abandonment, which is usually considered a form of neglect, as a separate maltreatment type, based on its high occurrence, which was significantly different from the other forms of neglect (Williams et al 2011). The CIS-2003 provided four categories for caregiver vulnerabilities and child functioning items: confirmed (when diagnosed or observed by the child welfare worker or disclosed by the caregiver), suspected (when level of suspicion was sufficient to include in a written assessment of the household or a transfer summary), no (when there was no problem) and unknown (when the child welfare worker was unsure or had not attempted to determine its presence).…”

“…The 6-month period prior to the survey was used as reference. For (Williams et al 2011). Furthermore, to test whether the number of vulnerabilities identified for the primary caregiver would affect the likelihood of placement, we used the cumulative caregiver vulnerabilities (CCV) proposed by Williams et al (2011), which was adapted from Wekerle et al (2007).…”

“…Considering the potential negative outcomes of experiencing maltreatment and the heightened vulnerability to maltreatment of children under 1 year of age (Williams et al 2011), it is important to identify risk and protective factors for placement of this age group. This type of information has the potential to determine approaches to prevention.…”

Child protection decisions to substantiate hospital child protection teams’ reports of suspected maltreatment

“…These include child and family characteristics such as: the child's age (Scannapieco & Connell-Carrick, 2005;Trocmé, Fallon, MacLaurin, & Neves, 2005;Williams, Tonmyr, Jack, Fallon, & MacMillan, 2011); gender (Cross & Casanueva, 2009); race/ethnicity or family income (Dettlaff et al, 2011;Putnam-Hornstein, Needell, King, & Johnson-Motoyama, 2013;Rivaux et al, 2008); and family and parental risk behaviors, e.g., substance abuse, maternal mental health, post-partum depression, and pre-natal drug exposure (McGlade, Ware, & Crawford, 2009;Scannapieco & Connell-Carrick, 2005Trocmé, Konke, Fallon, & MacLaurin, 2009). Additional factors that influence CPOs' decisions have to do with the nature of the referral source; the family's earlier history with child protection services and other welfare community services; and the type, severity, and evidence of maltreatment (Cross & Casanueva, 2009;English, Marshall, Coghlan, Brummel, & Orme, 2002;Jent et al, 2011;Trocmé et al, 2009).…”

Implementing an Inpatient Social Early Warning System for Child Maltreatment

“…Studies examining early risks during and after the period of pregnancy are growing (Luke & Brown, 2007;Palusci, 2011;Williams, Tonmyr, Jack, Fallon, & MacMillan, 2011;Wu et al, 2004;) to further understand about the causes as well as early prevention of child maltreatment. Pregnancy and the time after is a significant transition phase for the family.…”