Child Welfare Workers' Training, Knowledge, and Practice Concerns Regarding Child Maltreatment Fatalities: An Exploratory, Multi-State Analysis

Douglas, Emily M.

doi:10.1080/15548732.2012.723975

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Some states did include risk factors that are not considered to be the highest risk, according to extant research. We maintain that child welfare workers cannot adequately identify risk factors for fatal maltreatment if they have been inadequately trained in this area and there is research to support this lack of knowledge (Douglas 2012b). Research has shown that workers are affected by stories in the media about fatal maltreatment (Cooper 2005), but we would not advocate for workers to rely on news stories for their knowledge of CMFs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Our results suggest that workers' receive very little content about CMFs, which likely explains their lack of knowledge about risk factors (Douglas 2012b). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Fourth, child welfare workers may have the opportunity to attend additional training throughout their service in child welfare; we only assessed information that is delivered to workers prior to the start of their work in the profession. Finally, previous research shows that there are gaps in child welfare workers' knowledge concerning risk factors for CMF (Douglas 2012b); we have shown that child welfare workers receive little content on CMFs in their pre-service training. We can only hypothesize that if Age-parents are younger 2…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The majority of workers mistakenly reported that children are more likely to die from physical abuse, as opposed to neglect, that parental mental health is not a risk factor for fatalities, and that mothers are not most often responsible for their children's deaths. Another important finding of this study was that workers' self-report of receipt of training made no difference in their level of knowledge of risk factors (Douglas 2012b).…”

Section: The Intersection Of the Child Welfare Profession And Maltreamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Nevertheless, the rate of CMFs remains high (Finkelhor et al 2010). Recent research on the intersection of CMFs and the child welfare profession indicates that child welfare workers have a lack of knowledge about risk factors for maltreatment-related fatalities, even in the face of training about CMFs (Douglas 2012b); further social science text books on child abuse and neglect show that minimal information on CMFs is presented on fatalities (Douglas and Serino 2013). This brief paper reports on the prevalence of CMFs content and risk factors for CMFs in pre-serve child welfare training curricula.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

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The Presence of Maltreatment Fatality-Related Content in Pre-service Child Welfare Training Curricula: A Brief Report of 20 States

Douglas

Mohn

Gushwa

2014

Child Adolesc Soc Work J

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The purpose of this study was to assess the presence of evidence-based information about child maltreatment fatalities (CMFs) and risk factors for CMFs in pre-service child welfare training curricula in the United States. In this first paper to examine the extent to which child welfare workers receive content on CMFs in their pre-service child welfare training, we reviewed curricula from 20 states. We searched for content related to risk assessment and fatality characteristics in the following areas: child risk factors, parent risk factors, and family/ household risk factors. Our results suggest that workers' receive very little content regarding CMFs. We discuss the findings with regard to child welfare training and practice.Keywords Child welfare training Á Fatal maltreatment Á Child death Á Evidence-based practice Over the last several decades, child welfare professionals have increasingly turned their attention to the problem of children who die as a result of maltreatment-child maltreatment fatalities (CMFs). The field's knowledge of risk factors has improved (Chance and Scannapieco 2002; Graham et al. 2010;McClain et al. 1993;Stiffman et al. 2002) and there are a number of responses and prevention plans in place today because of this increased attention and improvements (Douglas 2005;Durfee et al. 2009;Durfee and Durfee 1995;Webster et al. 2003). Nevertheless, the rate of CMFs remains high (Finkelhor et al. 2010). Recent research on the intersection of CMFs and the child welfare profession indicates that child welfare workers have a lack of knowledge about risk factors for maltreatment-related fatalities, even in the face of training about CMFs (Douglas 2012b); further social science text books on child abuse and neglect show that minimal information on CMFs is presented on fatalities (Douglas and Serino 2013). This brief paper reports on the prevalence of CMFs content and risk factors for CMFs in pre-serve child welfare training curricula.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Our results suggest that workers' receive very little content about CMFs, which likely explains their lack of knowledge about risk factors (Douglas 2012b). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: The Intersection Of the Child Welfare Profession And Maltreamentioning

confidence: 97%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Presence of Maltreatment Fatality-Related Content in Pre-service Child Welfare Training Curricula: A Brief Report of 20 States

Douglas

Mohn

Gushwa

2014

Child Adolesc Soc Work J

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Challenges in Determining Child Maltreatment Fatalities: What Do We Really Know?

Douglas

Lee

2020

Child Abuse Review

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The challenges associated with determining causes of fatal child maltreatment have been documented by multiple professional fields and by the US government. This study explored these challenges, as well as the relative lethality of determinations of general neglect, medical neglect and physical abuse. Existing sources of information were used for this study: (1) data from the US National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data set extracted from annual Child Maltreatment reports published by the US Department of Health and Human Services; and (2) information published in recent state‐level child death review team (CDRT) reports. Results from the NCANDS data set indicated that more children died from general neglect (x̅ = 70.9%) than abuse (x̅ = 44.8%) or medical neglect (x̅ = 8.2%). Children who experienced medical neglect died at the highest rate (6.82 per 1000 medical neglect victims), making it the most lethal, followed by physical abuse and general neglect. The findings from CDRT reports were inconsistent, with some states indicating that more children died from abuse than neglect, which is in direct contrast to national statistics. The inconsistent and confusing use of language and constructs from CDRTs has important implications for multiple child‐serving fields.Key Practitioner Messages Professional child‐serving fields struggle with making accurate determinations of abuse or neglect‐related fatalities. Most child maltreatment fatalities are related to neglect. In terms of lethality, medical neglect appears to be most lethal, followed by physical abuse, and then general neglect. US‐state CDRT reports are not consistent in their use of terms and confuse constructs such as ‘neglect’ and ‘accident’. This makes it challenging to use their reviews as reliable sources of information. We recommend the adoption of consistency in the use and understanding of terms related to child maltreatment deaths, at a minimum across all jurisdictions in the USA, if not across all nations.

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What Is Fatal Child Maltreatment?

Douglas

2016

Child Maltreatment Fatalities in the United States

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Child Welfare Workers' Training, Knowledge, and Practice Concerns Regarding Child Maltreatment Fatalities: An Exploratory, Multi-State Analysis

Cited by 15 publications

References 41 publications

The Presence of Maltreatment Fatality-Related Content in Pre-service Child Welfare Training Curricula: A Brief Report of 20 States

The Presence of Maltreatment Fatality-Related Content in Pre-service Child Welfare Training Curricula: A Brief Report of 20 States

Challenges in Determining Child Maltreatment Fatalities: What Do We Really Know?

What Is Fatal Child Maltreatment?

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