Child abuse and neglect referral patterns: A longitudinal study

This study addresses two interrelated problems affecting the resource capac ity of child protective services-the high rate of repeated reports and unsu bstantiated cases. The reports of 238 families were tracked from the time o f their first report through June 1996. General patterns of reports and the impact of case characteristics on numbers of reports and rates of reports were examined. The average family was reported just over four times over an almost five-year period and slightly more than a third of a family's repor ts were substantiated. Type of report, presence of injuries, placement of a child and professional status of reporter affected number of reports and r ates of substantiation. Drawing upon interview and case record reviews of a n earlier study, the impact of a set of seven family risk factors on number of subsequent reports and substantiation status was also examined. Poorer family functioning, parental substance abuse, receipt of AFDC and number of children were predictors of the number of subsequent reports; poorer famil y functioning, parental substance abuse and number of children predicted su bstantiation status of a report. Paired comparisons of the three groups rev ealed significant differences on family risk factors only between those tha t had no further reports and those with substantiated re-reports. No signif icant differences were found between those with unsubstantiated and substan tiated re-reports, suggesting that the two types of families are more alike than different in terms of detrimental family and individual factors. Over all, the study findings support those who argue that by sharply restricting the types of cases investigated and/or using substantiation as a key crite rion for investigating and opening cases, many seriously endangered childre n are likely to be overlooked.