Annual Social Policy Forum: Poverty, Child Maltreatment, and Implications for Child Welfare Policy & Services

Research has established a strong correlation between poverty and both child maltreatment and child protective services (CPS) involvement. Recent evidence suggests that these associations are in fact causal. In this second year of the SSWR Social Policy Forum, faculty researcher Lawrence Berger and practitioner Stacie Leblanc have a conversation about the implications of this finding for child welfare policy and and services. In a combination of presentation, dialogue, and audience Q&A, they consider what engaging in “poverty-informed” child welfare practice would mean for the child welfare system and for the reduction of racial disparities throughout it.