Geographic Variation in Child Maltreatment and Foster Care Placement

 描述(由申请人提供)：在他们的童年过程中，许多美国儿童将经历被儿童保护服务机构(CPS)确认的虐待或将被寄养。根据最近的估计，大约八分之一的美国儿童将经历过CPS确认的儿童虐待，大约八分之一的儿童曾被送入寄养家庭(非裔美国儿童和美洲原住民儿童发生这两种事件的风险更高)。关于这些累积风险在地理上如何变化的知识仍然相当有限；然而，这是不幸的，因为这些儿童福利事件是儿童健康和福祉差的风险因素，以及以后成人的健康和福祉。该项目的目标是促进对州和县一级三种儿童福利事件累积流行率差异的理解--让儿童保护计划调查虐待指控，让儿童保护计划确认确实发生了虐待行为，并将其送入寄养家庭。我们计划分两个阶段实现这些目标。首先，我们将使用生命表和来自全国儿童虐待和忽视数据系统(NCANDS)和收养和寄养分析和报告系统(AFCARS)的数据来生成美国儿童将经历过(A)CPS调查、(B)确认虐待案例和(C)18岁之前寄养(CPS调查年龄为8至12岁)的累积比例的第一个州级估计。我们还将按种族/民族和性别估计每种风险。在第二项中，我们将使用相同的数据和技术来生成第一个县级估计美国儿童将经历(A)CPS调查，(B)确认虐待案例，以及(C)在18岁之前的任何时候(进行CPS调查的年龄为8至12岁)寄养的儿童的累积比例。我们将根据种族/民族和性别再次估计每个风险。由于NCANDS和AFCARS的数据不会为年度调查(NCANDS)或寄养安置(AFCARS)少于1000人的县提供县级标识符，因此我们项目的第二阶段将涉及该项目的PI与Michael Dineen之间的独特用户协议，Michael Dineen是康奈尔大学国家虐待和忽视儿童数据档案馆(NDACAN)NCANDS和AFCARS数据的首席数据分析师，这将生成美国所有县的县级估计。通过首次在州和县两级对经历过这三次儿童福利事件的儿童的累积比例进行估计，我们大大扩展了关于儿童面临的健康和福祉不良风险因素如何在地理上变化的研究，并为旨在降低虐待和寄养安置风险的政策和计划提供信息。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over the course of their childhood, many US children will experience maltreatment that is confirmed by child protective services (CPS) or will be placed in foster care. According to recent estimates, roughly 1 in 8 US children will ever experience CPS-confirmed child maltreatment, with roughly 1 in 8 ever being placed in foster care (with higher risks of both events for African American and Native American children). Knowledge about how these cumulative risks vary geographically remains quite limited; however, which is unfortunate since these child welfare events are risk factors for poor child health and wellbeing, as well as for later adult health and wellbeing. The goal of this project is o advance the understanding of state- and county-level variations in the cumulative prevalence of three child welfare events-having CPS investigate an allegation of maltreatment, having CPS confirm that maltreatment did occur, and being placed in foster care. We plan to accomplish these goals in two stages. In the first, we will use life tables and data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) to generate the first state-level estimates of the cumulative proportion of US children who will ever experience (a) a CPS investigation, (b) a confirmed maltreatment case, and (c) foster care placement by age 18 (ages 8 to 12 for a CPS investigation). We will also estimate each risk by race/ethnicity and sex. In the second, we will use the same data and techniques to generate the first county-level estimates of the cumulative proportion of US children who will ever experience (a) a CPS investigation, (b) a confirmed maltreatment case, and (c) foster care placement at any point before age 18 (ages 8 to 12 for having a CPS investigation). We will again estimate each risk by race/ethnicity and sex. Because the NCANDS and AFCARS data do not provide county- level identifiers for counties with fewer than 1000 annual investigations (for NCANDS) or foster care placements (for AFCARS), the second stage of our project will involve a unique user agreement between the PI of this project and Michael Dineen, the chief data analyst for both the NCANDS and AFCARS data at the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University, that will generate county- level estimates for all US counties. By providing the first state- and county-level estimates of the cumulative proportion of children who ever experience these three child welfare events, we greatly extend research on how the risk factors children face for poor health and wellbeing vary geographically and also inform policies and programs targeted at reducing the risks of maltreatment and foster placement.