Families at the Intersection of the Criminal Justice and Child Protective Services Systems

Abstract

In this article, we first describe the incidence and prevalence of incarceration and CPS involvement in the United States. Second, we outline the reasons that the same individuals and families may be at risk for involvement in both systems and review the limited existing research examining links between incarceration and CPS involvement. Third, we use unique longitudinal data from Wisconsin, spanning from 2004 to 2012, to describe intergenerational and intragenerational overlap in the two systems. Specifically, we calculate (1) the proportion of all CPS-involved children who have an incarcerated parent; (2) the proportion of incarcerated adults who have a CPS-involved child; (3) the proportion of incarcerated young men and women who were involved in the CPS system as adolescents; and (4) the proportion of CPS-involved adolescents who subsequently became incarcerated. We conclude with a discussion of potential directions for future research as well as implications for practice and policy.

Economics of Child Protection: Maltreatment, Foster Care, and Intimate Partner Violence

“…Parental criminal justice involvement is another risk factor for child maltreatment. For example, Berger et al (2016) study administrative data in Wisconsin and find that, among all children with an official maltreatment report, 8% had a parent in state prison at some point during the 12 months following the report.…”

“…More importantly, especially for policy makers who seek to target programs to at-risk youth, maltreated children are at particularly high risk of outcomes such as homelessness or imprisonment as young adults. For example, children who receive child protective services are 2–3 times more likely than other children to be incarcerated by age 21 (Berger et al 2016, Cutuli et al 2016, Lindquist & Santavirta 2014, Mersky & Topitzes 2010), are 1.6–2 times more likely to receive disability pensions (Vinnerljung et al 2015), have substantially lower educational attainment (Boden et al 2007, Fry et al 2017, Mersky & Topitzes 2010), and are 2–4 times more likely to be victims of preventable death (Hjern et al 2004). Fang et al (2012) estimate that the lifetime cost of new abuse and neglect cases in the United States each year is between $100 billion and $500 billion.…”

“A Twenty-Hour-a-Day Job”

“…One important—and sobering—area of recent inquiry is the association between family member incarceration and poor outcomes in health, socioeconomic stability, and other indicators of wellbeing. The influence of parental incarceration on physical and mental health has become a necessary focus for anyone concerned with the welfare of children in the United States, and particularly, but not exclusively, children from disadvantaged neighborhoods (Wakefield and Wildeman 2013, Berger and Noyes 2016, Wildeman, Turney et al 2016). Likewise, a growing epidemiological literature documents that having a family member who is incarcerated or recently released from jail or prison is associated with negative health outcomes among women, such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and depression (Green, Ensminger et al 2006, Wildeman, Schnittker et al 2012, Lee and Wildeman 2013, Wildeman, Lee et al 2013, Lee, Wildeman et al 2014).…”

Socioeconomic Resource Environments in Biological and Alternative Family Care and Children's Cognitive Performance*

“…Research into this problem has often focused on child maltreatment and foster care as causal drivers of the association, but in reality, maltreatment or foster care placement rarely, if ever, occurs in the context of an otherwise high-functioning family. CPS involvement, including placement in foster care, is most likely to occur in the context of other social disadvantages, including intergenerational maltreatment patterns, poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, mental illness, criminality, family instability, and substandard parenting (Barth, Wildfire, and Green 2006;Berger 2004;Berger et al 2016;Lindsey 1991;Schneider 2016;Walsh, MacMillan, and Jamieson 2003;Widom, Czaja, and DuMont 2015). A wealth of research has documented that adverse childhood experiences, which include many of these same disadvantages, are associated with a range of negative consequences later in life, including poorer physical and mental health, increased delinquency, and reduced school engagement (Bethell et al 2014;Mersky, Topitzes, and Reynolds 2013).…”