Session: (WITHDRAWN) Trajectories of Dual System Involvement Among Girls: A Focus on Parenting, Crossover Youth, and Commercial Sexual Exploitation (Society for Social Work and Research 25th Annual Conference - Social Work Science for Social Change)

This symposium will highlight trajectories of dual and intergenerational system involvement among girls using linked administrative data. Paper 1 demonstrates that youth involved in both child protective services (CPS) and juvenile justice systems (i.e., dual system youth) are disproportionately girls. Paper 2 uses latent transition analysis to identify child maltreatment patterns correlated with higher risk for adolescent motherhood and juvenile justice involvement. Paper 3 examines dual system experiences among girls by comparing girls who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and those who haven’t. Paper 4 follows girls with histories of CSE to identify intergenerational child welfare system involvement. Together, these studies highlight the unique needs and trajectories of girls involved in child-serving systems in order to target prevention and intervention efforts.

Paper 1 highlights that dual system involvement is much higher among girls with a probation petition than boys. The analysis examined youth with a first probation petition between 2014-2016 in Los Angeles (N=6,000). The youth with a probation petition were linked to the state’s CPS records. Findings reveal that among youth with a first delinquency petition two-thirds were dual system. Importantly, nearly three-fourths of girls were dual-system. Findings provide insight into how system practices can be modified to reduce the likelihood of dual system involvement.

Paper 2 leverages linked administrative data from birth, CPS, and arrest records to assess risk for cross-system outcomes. Our analysis is based on a cohort of females born in 1999 in California with a CPS report during childhood (N=76,211). In California, 30.0% of girls were probabilistically linked to a CPS referral; 2.0% of these children were linked to an arrest record and 4.5% to a birth as a mother. We identified five classifications of maltreatment through childhood. Results indicate how specific patterns were correlated with risk for early motherhood and juvenile justice involvement.

Paper 3 examines incidence of dual system involvement and system experiences among a sample of justice-involved girls with histories of out of home care (N = 459), about half of which had histories of CSE. Nearly all youth were dually involved (98% of the youth with a history of CSE and 94% of the comparison youth); however, youth with a history of CSE had significantly more frequent contact with both systems as well as out of home care experiences. Findings highlight the importance of enhancing cross-system collaboration to prevent CSE among system-involved girls.

Paper 4 highlights the significant association between CSE and parenting among CPS-involved girls, and reveals considerable dual-involvement both as parents and children. Administrative data from the CPS of a large southwestern state reveal 11.12% of all youth known to have experienced CSE before age 18 (N = 2,176) gave birth at least once before the age of 18, and nearly half of these mothers had CPS cases opened on their children during the first year of life. This study offers previously unavailable information about the dual-involvement of youth being served as children and as mothers, and highlights the importance of addressing parenting-related needs within CSE service provision.