Doctoral Dissertation Research: Interagency Collaboration and Maternal and Child Wellbeing

美国儿童保护服务机构收到的大多数虐待儿童报告来自教师、医疗保健提供者和社会工作者等专业人员。因此，儿童福利系统和其他机构之间的数据共享有助于调查和干预虐待儿童的案件。然而，这种合作的一个后果是，由于害怕与儿童福利制度接触，家庭可能会避开提供必要资源的机构。本项目分析了在何种情况下机构参与与儿童保护服务参与的更大可能性相关，以及儿童保护服务参与与未来机构参与的关系。探索与儿童福利系统的互动如何限制家庭获得所需服务的意愿，揭示了社会分层再生产中一个尚未得到充分研究的机制。该项目的研究结果将产生政策和政策实施战略，以鼓励适当地接受社会服务，并加强社会服务工作者和服务对象之间的合作。本项目采用定量和定性相结合的方法。项目的定量部分将分析来自脆弱家庭和儿童福利研究（FFCWS）的数据。目前可获得的FFCWS数据跟踪了从焦点儿童出生到15岁的近5000名儿童及其家庭，并对未婚母亲所生的儿童进行了抽样调查。将使用诸如广义线性模型之类的统计技术来估计儿童福利系统参与与服务利用之间的联系。此外，该项目还涉及对40名社会服务人员进行深入的半结构化访谈。访谈主题将包括受访者如何以及何时决定报告儿童虐待，他们使用什么证据，以及专业规范如何影响这些决策过程。该项目将提供有关低收入家庭社会服务使用情况的证据，并对有关分层、家庭和儿童结果以及母亲与儿童福利系统接触的社会学理论产生影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The majority of child maltreatment reports received by child protective service agencies in the United States come from professionals such as teachers, healthcare providers, and social workers. Data sharing between the child welfare system and other institutions thus facilitates the investigation of and intervention in cases of child maltreatment. One consequence of this collaboration, however, is that families may avoid institutions that provide necessary resources out of fear of coming into contact with the child welfare system. This project analyzes under what circumstances institutional engagement is associated with a greater likelihood of child protective services involvement, as well as how child protective services involvement is related to future institutional engagement. Exploring how interactions with the child welfare system constrain family willingness to access needed services sheds light on one understudied mechanism in the reproduction of social stratification. Findings from this project will generate policy and policy implementation strategies for encouraging appropriate social service uptake and better collaboration between social service workers and clients.This project utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative portion of project will analyze data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (FFCWS). Currently available FFCWS data follow nearly five thousand children and their families from the focal child's birth to age fifteen, with an oversampling of children born to unmarried mothers. Statistical techniques such as generalized linear models will be used to estimate associations between child welfare system involvement and service utilization. In addition, the project involves in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 40 social service employees. Interview topics will include how and when respondents decide to report child maltreatment, what evidence they use, and how professional norms shape these decision-making processes. This project will provide evidence regarding social service usage among low-income families, with implications for sociological theories regarding stratification, family and child outcomes, and maternal contact with the child welfare system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.