The Relationship of Household Income to Further System Engagement and Service Receipt in a Child Protective Services-Involved Population

Purpose:  Although it is well established that poverty is associated with an increased risk of child maltreatment, research is needed to identify behaviors amenable to intervention.  After a first report of maltreatment, children are at elevated risk of subsequent reports.  Identifying critical pathways through which poverty impacts CPS-involvement among this population could allow social workers to provide targeted services to families in the critical period following a report.  This paper aims to answer the question:  Does harsh physical parenting mediate the relationship from income to CPS system involvement? 

Methods: Using baseline and 18-month follow-up data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II, a national probability sample representing children investigated for maltreatment in the 42 participating states, this analysis utilized a sub-sample of families in which children remained in the home following a CPS investigation (n=4,009).   The parents were 91% female and 49% were white. Path analysis was used to explore the direct and indirect relationship from household income at the time of investigation to CPS system engagement-related outcomes for an 18-month period.  The independent variable was total annual income (mean=25,802, SD=1,605, median=17,000).  At 18-month follow-up, CPS system engagement dependent variables were measured by (1) child was in CPS custody since baseline, but not currently; (2) child currently in CPS custody; (3) new CPS report since baseline; (4) high-risk new report.  The dependent variables for service receipt were, since baseline any: (1) service (parent, child or household, including financial assistance); (2) service for child; (3) service for parent.  Harsh physical parenting at baseline, measured by the parent report of physical discipline on the Conflict Tactics Scale (mean=5.50,SD=.44,Median=1), was a partial mediator in all models.  Analyses were conducted in Mplus 7.2 and all models controlled for child race and gender.

Results: For all outcomes, the models fit the data well and CFI, RMSEA and TLI were within the acceptable ranges.  There were significant direct pathways from income to all seven outcomes.  In separate models, harsh parenting (fully or partially) mediated the relationship from income to (1) child was in CPS custody since baseline, but not currently; (2) child currently in CPS custody; and (3) any service for child.  Although income was associated with harsh parenting, harsh parenting did not mediate the pathways from income to (1) new CPS report since baseline or (2) high-risk new reports.

Implications:  For families who have been investigated for maltreatment, even within a mostly low-income sample, the poorest families are at the highest risk of continued or future involvement in part due to higher levels of harsh physical discipline (as self-reported). This association of income and harsh parenting is consistent with the extant theory that the stress of poverty results in harsher parenting.  Consequently, harsher parenting may lead to continued system involvement, particularly higher-level involvement such as the removal of children.  These results highlight the importance of social work interventions for at-risk parents.  Parenting programs for CPS-involved families should address positive parenting and non-physical discipline techniques in order to reduce future CPS involvement.