Service Utilization Patterns of Maltreated and Nonmaltreated Children From Low-Income, African-American Families

Links between child and adolescent trauma exposure and service use histories in a national clinic-referred sample.

“…In this study, children who experienced at least one type of traumatic event were involved with many different kinds of child-serving systems, including social services (65%) and school-based services (36%). Consistent with other studies of health care utilization in traumaexposed populations (e.g., Smith, Thompson, Johnson, Nitsche, & Kaslow, 2009;Felitti et al, 1998), total trauma types emerged as a significant predictor of all child-serving systems evaluated in this study, including juvenile justice, school, health, mental health, and child welfare. This finding was particularly robust for children involved with the child welfare system and those who experienced multiple types of trauma.…”

“…In particular, given the pervasiveness of trauma exposure reported across diverse child service systems (Abram et al, 2004; Ko et al, 2008), these findings underscore the critical need for all child service systems to become trauma informed (Huang, Macbeth, Dodge, & Jaccobstein, 2004; Singer, Anglin, Song, & Lunghofer, 1995) and to communicate and coordinate with each other through shared comprehensive screening and assessment for exposure to traumatic events and potential adverse consequences. This could be done, for example, through a “point of access” system whereby providers in a specific child-serving system, such as primary care, can identify and coordinate referrals for these vulnerable children, adolescents, and families (Smith et al, 2009). Becoming “trauma informed” is defined as ensuring that all staff who are involved in providing services have the knowledge and skills needed to identify traumatized children and families and to support individuals who need access to trauma specialists (Ko et al, 2008).…”

“The Buoy”: Utilization of a low-threshold ambulatory setting for traumatized children and adolescents in Austria

“…It is well known that individuals with histories of childhood trauma are significantly more likely than their non-traumatized counterparts to make use of mental health services, child care, and social services when older [ 32 , 33 ]. Although research on developmental aspects concerning “windows of vulnerability” during childhood and adolescence is still scarce, it appears that the younger the children are when they experience traumatic events, the higher their risk is for developing adulthood mental health problems [ 34 ].…”