Shedding the Constraints of Formal Systems in Research on Child Maltreatment Through High-Quality Measurement and Broad Population Surveys

Abstract

Improvements in our knowledge about child maltreatment require that we understand a exposures in the natural environments in which children live and (b) the nature of maltreatment based on current, shared definitions validated through empirical findings. These developments require (a) appropriately defining and measuring proximal maltreatment exposures with high quality, (b) determining the impacts of these exposures on a range of relevant indicators of child well-being, and (c) assessing these effects in the context of co-occurring factors such as other forms of maltreatment and factors in environments that may serve as prevention or intervention points. Research establishing maltreatment measures would benefit from independence from definitions used by the formal regulatory systems responsible for child welfare, i.e., Child Protective Services (CPS) and the associated legal infrastructure. Equally important is to observe child maltreatment in the lives of all children through engagement with populations outside of formal child welfare regulatory systems and across social, cultural, political, or institutional boundaries. This allows for the discovery of the etiology of maltreatment which may inform novel prevention strategies. In this article, we appeal for more "systems-free" research in measurement, modeling, data collection, and sampling with the goal of new discoveries in defining and recognizing childhood maltreatment and the varied social pathways of prevention. These methods would provide new insights into what to prioritize for prevention and intervention as well as discovery of contextual points of prevention and intervention, many of which may not involve existing child welfare systems.

Examining the Prospects for Developing a National Child Maltreatment Surveillance System in Ireland

“…While these high-risk approaches are necessary in identifying, assessing, and interventing to prevent further harm and they are attractive to policymakers, they do little to stem the tide of new cases (Perry, 2009) for which a complimentary population approach is necessary (Reading et al, 2009). Furthermore, as is detailed below in relation to the Irish system, estimates of the prevalence of abuse and of victimization produced by the CPW systems are unreliable because they incorporate aspects of system-based definitions and assessment processes (Christ & Schwab-Reese, 2020;Fallon et al, 2010).…”

“…Agency surveys can potentially create an additional work burden for staff in terms of training and form completion, resulting in a barrier to participation as workers are already heavily taxed in terms of time and cognitive load (Christ & Schwab-Reese, 2020;Jud et al, 2015;Trocmé et al, 2016a). In addition, each cycle of data collection involves new children (for example, every 5 years), thus "limiting the conclusions that can be drawn longitudinally (causality)" (Scott & Faulkner, 2019, p. 262).…”

“…Representative population-based surveys are a cost-efficient means of gathering surveillance data in lowmiddle income countries (Jud et al, 2015;Leeb & Fluke, 2015). When trying to achieve "proper surveillance" of child maltreatment in a society, Christ and Schwab-Reese (2020) argue that this is best realized through random population-based surveys as this methodology illustrates what is unknown or unreported to child protection systems.…”

“…For the most part, there is theoretical consensus in the academic fields on definitions of specific child abuse categories (Christ & Schwab-Reese, 2020). However, a lack of agreement on how these constructs are operationalized within legal and CPW contexts makes related data susceptible to variation, with CM definitions and subcategories differing and overlapping depending on the professional context (Christ & Schwab-Reese, 2020;Scott & Faulkner, 2019).…”

“…For the most part, there is theoretical consensus in the academic fields on definitions of specific child abuse categories (Christ & Schwab-Reese, 2020). However, a lack of agreement on how these constructs are operationalized within legal and CPW contexts makes related data susceptible to variation, with CM definitions and subcategories differing and overlapping depending on the professional context (Christ & Schwab-Reese, 2020;Scott & Faulkner, 2019). When applying epidemiologic surveillance for child maltreatment, the lack of universal definitions for key terms presents challenges, with variation across jurisdictions, cultures, systems, and agencies (Christ & Schwab-Reese, 2020;Scott & Faulkner, 2019).…”