A Time-Series Study of the Impact of a Child Maltreatment Reporting Law

Background and Purpose:  Legislators have sought to create, revise, and refine child maltreatment reporting laws with the goal of increasing the likelihood that maltreatment will be reported and children will be protected.  The research literature presents mixed results regarding the effects of these laws (Ashton, 2009; Bryant & Milson, 2005; Faulkner, 2009; Hamarman, Pope, & Czaja, 2002; Hawkins & McCallum, 2001; Krase & Delong-Hamilton, 2015; Palusci & Vandervort, 2014; Zellman, 1990).  Further, the research is complicated by possible confounding effects of controversial cases that gave rise to particular policies.  In order to more clearly identify policy impacts, a time-series study of the Kayla McKean Act, which was adopted in the State of Florida following the murder of Kayla McKean, was conducted.  This study specifically sought to identify whether the policy increased the number of reports accepted from three mandated reporter groups targeted by the policy.

Methods:  This policy impact analysis took the form of a single-subject design with three phases.  The first phase includes 11 months before the death of Kayla McKean.  The second phase spans seven months between the death of Kayla McKean and the date the policy took effect.  The third phase includes six months following the policy’s effective date.  Two years of child maltreatment report data were obtained from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS).  Line graphs were created for four variables: the monthly number of accepted child maltreatment reports received from educational professionals, medical professionals, legal professionals, and all reporters.  Analysis consisted of visual inspection of trends and change in level.  

Results:  The data within the line graphs demonstrated seasonal trends that superseded the phases in the single-subject design.  For both years of data, accepted reports from all sources were highest January to April and then steadily declined through the remaining months.  Accepted reports from educational professionals fell during the summer months and winter break.  Accepted reports from medical professionals declined at the start of the school year and remained low throughout the remaining months of the year.  No impact was evident for educational or medical professionals, as the number of accepted reports from these two sources dropped in the second year and no discontinuity was observed following the case or the policy.  The line graph for legal professionals suggests a short-term impact of the policy, which was demonstrated through an increase in the number of accepted reports during the two months following the policy’s effective date.    

Conclusions and Implications:  The results of this study suggest that the impact of child maltreatment reporting policies can vary across mandated reporter groups.  This finding has implications for research regarding these types of policies, since an effect for one group may be obscured when examining data from all report sources.  Further, the results reveal that the impact identified in this study was not sustained for a substantial period of time.  Additional research is needed to determine the reason behind the transient nature of the policy’s impact.