Economic Resources and Child Maltreatment: Early Results from the Getting Access to Income Now Evaluation

PURPOSE:  Limited access to economic resources is highly correlated with child maltreatment and child protective services (CPS) involvement. However, evidence of causal relationships in these areas is almost nonexistent. Randomized controlled trials of either income-reducing or income-enhancing interventions have rarely involved child maltreatment or CPS outcome measures, and few studies have been conducted that apply rigorous techniques for isolating income’s exogenous impact on child maltreatment. 

This study presents early results from Project GAIN (Getting Access to Income Now), a randomized evaluation of an income support intervention intended to prevent child maltreatment and CPS involvement. The intervention is designed to prevent child abuse and neglect by assisting families at risk for child maltreatment in accessing economic resources, reducing financial stressors, and increasing stability for the children and adults in the home.  The target population is families who have been reported to and investigated by child protective services (CPS) in Milwaukee, WI, but for whom no ongoing services are provided (i.e., cases closed following an initial assessment). Rates of re-report among families deflected from CPS are quite high and many of these families will have CPS cases eventually opened. 

METHODS:  Approximately 1,200 families per year are being randomly assigned to either GAIN or status quo CPS case closure procedures. The intervention is provided by a community economic support agency that is not affiliated with CPS. Early results are based on a cohort of approximately 2,300 families that were randomized between September 2012 and March 2013 and followed through the end of 2013. All families are followed using an extensive array of administrative data on CPS involvement, earnings, and participation in a wide array of public benefit programs (SNAP, TANF, UI, child support, child care, etc.). We present early findings on (1) treatment-control differences in CPS involvement over that time period and (2) treatment-control differences in CPS involvement over the same time period for a range of subgroups.

RESULTS: Intent-to-treat effects are not statistically significant for the preliminary study period.  However, substantial ITT effects are present for the subgroup of families who have had prior involvement with CPS (i.e., before the index CPS event). Specifically, among those with at least one prior substantiated CPS report, treatment families are 40% less likely than control families to have a subsequent CPS report, and 45% less likely to have a substantiated subsequent report.  Treatment  group familes are also 12% less likely to have a child placed in foster care than control families.

IMPLICATIONS:  This study asks:  “How much maltreatment prevention can be achieved by intervening with at-risk families around economic stressors?”  Knowing whether and the extent to which economic support interventions reduce child maltreatment, and for whom such interventions are most effective, can bring enormous value to the development of a comprehensive prevention infrastructure.  The fact that early data show a large effect for a "high-cost" subgroup of families who have contact with CPS suggests that this intervention could also achieve significant cost savings for the CPS system.