Exploring Ways to Improve Outcomes for Children with Disabilities in the Child Welfare System: Insights from Social Workers

Research into the overrepresentation of children in the child welfare system often focuses primarily on race/ethnicity. However, there is another group of children who are disproportionately represented in the system - those with disabilities. Studies reveal that children with disabilities (CWD) face an increased risk of being maltreated by their caregivers/parents, nearly twice as much as those without disabilities. This is because taking care of disabled children can pose additional challenges, which can result in a greater likelihood of maltreatment. Once CWD come into child protective services (CPS), they often face challenges related to placement, permanency, and foster care outcomes. They are more likely to experience placement disruption, less likely to be placed with kin, and more likely to be placed in congregated settings. CWD also exhibit lower rates of reunification and higher rates of re-entry into care. Despite this, there is limited information available on how CPS workers respond to CWD. To address this gap and to improve CPS practices for CWD, it is essential to acquire a better understanding of the CPS worker’s experiences and current practices. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to investigate their experiences with CWD.

Through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling, 12 CPS workers in Northern California participated in this study using in-depth individual interviews. All participants were graduates of the Masters in Title I-VE programs, and the majority of them (91.7%) were females. The largest ethnic group was Latinx (41.7%), and two-thirds of the participants (75.5%) have worked as CPS workers for more than three years, with an average of 4.25 years. The interviews were conducted online using a semi-structured format. Each interview lasted an hour and was transcribed verbatim.

A thematic analysis identified the following six main themes: the contributors to maltreatment, such as poverty, caregiving demands due to the nature of the disability, and limited resources for families in the community (Theme 1); difficulties faced in comprehensive needs assessment due to limited knowledge of disabilities among workers, and communication barriers with CWD, especially those with developmental disabilities (Theme 2); challenges in case management due to the scarcity of qualified placements like foster homes and kinships, and stigma attached to disability, even among professionals (Theme 3); the importance of personal/professional experience in working with CWD and their families (Theme 4); the significance of collaboration with disability experts and the care team, such as public nurse practitioners (Theme 5); and the critical need for improving training and support for workers handling cases of CWD (Theme 6).

Despite the limited generalizability due to the study design and the small sample size, the study indicates a significant need to train CPS workers. The study suggests that various disability-relevant training programs can be a valuable tool to help CPS workers perform their duties effectively. The training program should prioritize boosting their awareness and knowledge of disabilities, refining their skills to conduct better risk and needs assessments, and improving their interactions with CWD. These training programs can significantly enhance CPS workers' capabilities to handle CWD cases.