The Impacts of Universal Pre-Kindergarten on Child Welfare System Involvement: Evidence from New York City

Background and Purpose. Previous evidence on early care and education programs suggests that they offer promise in the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Unmitigated abuse and neglect increase risk for mental health issues, substance use, criminal behavior, and health and economic challenges in adulthood. This study estimates the impact of New York City's "Pre-K For All" – a universal, free, and full-day pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program which was rolled out during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years – on child maltreatment investigation rates.

While previous research has explored the relation between pre-K and outcomes such as maternal employment and children's academic skills, behavioral problems, and health, there is limited evidence of its impact on child maltreatment. However, the effects are theoretically ambiguous. On one hand, access to pre-K could reduce abuse and neglect by increasing maternal labor force participation and, subsequently, household income. This may enhance parents’ ability to meet their children’s needs and invest in their development and improve parents’ mental health by reducing stress. Conversely, if children encounter mandated reporters (e.g., teachers) for a longer duration in full-day pre-K settings compared to the counterfactual group (e.g., children in daycare or at home), the reporting of maltreatment may increase.

Methods. Using data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), we construct aggregate county-year-age level data of NYC’s Child Welfare System (CPS) investigations between the 2010-11 and 2016-17 academic years, focusing on overall CPS investigation rates (per 1,000 children), and investigation rates for physical abuse and neglect. We estimate an intent-to-treat program impact using an event study design that compares 4-year-olds to older children in a given academic year, relative to the 2013-14 academic year (i.e., one year prior to the expansion). We consider 8-year-olds as our main comparison group but find similar results when 6- and 7-year-olds are used. For all outcomes, trends between the treated and the comparison groups are parallel in the pre-implementation period. We use wild cluster bootstrap methods to account for the fact that there are fewer than 30 clusters (counties).

Results. We find that the impact of universal pre-K increases over time. In the 2014-15 academic year – the first year of implementations – total investigations and neglect investigations dropped by 2.5 and 2.3 cases per 1000 children, respectively (7% of the baseline mean); no effects were found for abuse investigations. Then, in 2016-17, we detected a reduction of 8 cases per 1000 children in total CPS investigations and neglect investigations (22-24% of the baseline mean). Race subgroup analysis reveals that reductions in total CPS and neglect investigations are disproportionately more pronounced among Black and Hispanic populations.

Conclusions and Implications. This study contributes to a growing literature that examines the association between work-family policies and child maltreatment, particularly child neglect. By providing evidence linking UPK to reduced CPS involvement, we demonstrate its role as a prevention-related policy solution. As more states and cities are considering implementing UPK programs, this paper adds important evidence to the cost effectiveness of such programs.