Exploring policies for the reduction of child physical abuse and neglect

Abstract

Policies can be powerful tools for prevention given their potential to affect conditions that can improve population-level health. Given the dearth of empirical research on policies' impacts on child maltreatment, this article (a) identifies 37 state policies that might have impacts on the social determinants of child maltreatment; (b) identifies available data sources documenting the implementation of 31 policies; and (c) utilizes the available data to explore effects of 11 policies (selected because they had little missing data) on child maltreatment rates. These include two policies aimed at reducing poverty, two temporary assistance to needy families policies, two policies aimed at increasing access to child care, three policies aimed at increasing access to high quality pre-K, and three policies aimed at increasing access to health care. Multi-level regression analyses between within-state trends of child maltreatment investigation rates and these 11 policies, controlling for states' childhood poverty, adults without a high school diploma, unemployment, child burden, and race/ethnicity, identified two that were significantly associated with decreased child maltreatment rates: lack of waitlists to access subsidized child care and policies that facilitate continuity of child health care. These findings are correlational and are limited by the quality and availability of the data. Future research might focus on a reduced number of states that have good quality administrative data or population-based survey data on child maltreatment or reasonable proxies for child maltreatment and where data on the actual implementation of specific policies of interest can be documented.

Gender Inequity Associated with Increased Child Physical Abuse and Neglect: a Cross-Country Analysis of Population-Based Surveys and Country-Level Statistics

“…When women have greater political power, they tend to sponsor legislation and policy change that are supportive of children and families (UNICEF 2008). Policies that are supportive of families such as paid family leave (Klevens et al 2016) or increased availability of child care are associated with decreased rates of child maltreatment (Klevens et al 2015). Although the strong correlations of gender inequity and child abuse and neglect suggest new directions for understanding and addressing child maltreatment, their relevance should be replicated in future studies.…”

Effectiveness of a Statewide Abusive Head Trauma Prevention Program in North Carolina

“…Child abuse preventionists should consider policy options that create a context more supportive of parenting, such as those that support income stability and high-quality early care and education. 33 …”

Connecting the Dots: State Health Department Approaches to Addressing Shared Risk and Protective Factors Across Multiple Forms of Violence

“…For example, neighborhood support and connectedness (eg, high levels of community cohesion and a strong sense of community or community identity) have been shown to protect communities from perpetration of child abuse and neglect, 26,34 intimate partner violence, 24,57–59 sexual violence, 60,61 youth violence, 62,63 and suicide. 64–66 Access to mental health services has also been found to be associated with lower levels of child abuse and neglect 67 and suicide. 21 Also, some emerging, primarily qualitative research indicates that coordination of resources and services among community agencies can help increase protection from violence at the community level.…”