Are Social Supports a Mitigating Factor in Risk to Children?

Background and Purpose

Description of the problem. In 2004, child welfare across Ontario embedded strength-based principles within a revised policy framework. Such policy changes emphasize how the role of social supports has been accepted in the Ontario child welfare field as a necessary protective measure for children at risk. With an already overtaxed system critisized for overly intrusive investigations and unnecessary apprehensions of children, a careful assessment of family strengths and resources is required. Understanding the impact of social supports on vulnerable families is relevant to the development of services for isolated families. Because preventative measures for infants and toddlers are of particular importance, the impact of a family's social supports should be examined for this special population.

Study Objectives: This paper focuses on the impact of social supports in protecting children under the age of two. Despite the relatively new policy emphasis in Ontario, not much is known about the correlation between social supports and their relationship to whether or not a child is removed from the mother's care. While it seems reasonable to assume that increased support will provide positive benefits to families, some studies have failed to find any advantages at all (Dutkewich, Bokowski & Whitman, 1996; Cadzow, Armstrong & Fraser, 1999). The objective of this study is to determine the impact of supports on mothers of young children.

Research Question(s). Our research question centers on whether instrumental, emotional and social contacts are associated with a child's removal from the mother's care. Further examination was completed on the worker's assessment of whether these contacts were of a positive or negative nature.

Methods. Protection files from a Children's Aid Society High Risk Infant team in Ontario were examined to determine whether the level and type of social supports available to mothers were associated with whether the infant was removed from the home (N=81). Workers reviewed file information and completed a questionnaire on each of their open files. The amount of supports available to clients and the extent to which these supports were assessed as positive or negative was examined. Bivariate analysis and logistic regressions were used for the analysis. Results. Results indicated that mothers who had more positive social contacts and fewer negative contacts were less likely to have their child removed. In addition, strong protective effects for mothers who had only positive social contacts, with no negative social contacts were found. Mothers with no negative contacts were less likely to have had their children removed from the home.

Conclusions & Implications: Exploration of positive supports and resources that are available to a family are of paramount importance when assessing risk to children. These cases require early identification and mobilization of supports to mitigate risk to infants. When families have little support systems to identify, effective interventions will need to provide opportunities for mothers to feel connected with others in meaningful ways. Further research is required that examines the link between the quality of a mother's supports and a child's entry into the foster care system.