Substantiation of child maltreatment among parents with disabilities in the United States

Recurrence of Substantiated Maltreatment Reports between Low-Income Parents With Disabilities and Their Propensity-Score Matched Sample Without Disabilities

“…Throughout childhood, approximately 45% of low-income parents with disabilities had at least one substantiated CPS report compared to 42% of their matched sample in this study, which fell into the prevalence range of previous studies that have found 10%–70% of parents with disabilities have maltreatment substantiation (Bishop et al, 2000; Lightfoot et al, 2021; McConnell et al, 2011; Taylor et al, 1991). When comparing maltreatment recurrence, we found that the number of maltreatment substantiations during a child’s entire childhood were not significantly higher for low-income parents with disabilities than their matched sample of low-income parents without disabilities.…”

“…As the first United States-based multistate longitudinal study on this topic, this study presents the rates of substantiated maltreatment recurrence between low-income parents with disabilities and their matched low-income sample without disabilities as well as compares risk factors for repeated maltreatment substantiations between the two groups. Throughout childhood, approximately 45% of low-income parents with disabilities had at least one substantiated CPS report compared to 42% of their matched sample in this study, which fell into the prevalence range of previous studies that have found 10%-70% of parents with disabilities have maltreatment substantiation (Bishop et al, 2000;Lightfoot et al, 2021;McConnell et al, 2011;Taylor et al, 1991). When comparing maltreatment recurrence, we found that the number of maltreatment substantiations during a child's entire childhood were not significantly higher for low-income parents with disabilities than their matched sample of low-income parents without disabilities.…”

“…In addition, because we are using SSI as our measure of parental disability, it is impossible to determine the type of disability. In the previous studies of one of the authors, the risk for maltreatment substantiation among parents with disabilities varied across disability types (Lightfoot et al, 2021), and we were not able to determine this using this study. Likewise, previous research on child maltreatment suggests that the risk of substantiated maltreatment recurrence is associated with maltreatment subtypes (Bae et al, 2009;Hélie & Bouchard, 2010;DePanfilis & Zuravin, 2002;English et al, 1999).…”

“…There has been increasing attention internationally to the experiences of parents with disabilities and outcomes of their children in the child welfare system (Booth et al, 2005;Lightfoot et al, 2021;Llewellyn et al, 2003;McConnell et al, 2011aMcConnell et al, , 2011b. As the first United States-based multistate longitudinal study on this topic, this study presents the rates of substantiated maltreatment recurrence between low-income parents with disabilities and their matched low-income sample without disabilities as well as compares risk factors for repeated maltreatment substantiations between the two groups.…”

“…In contrast to the Canadian studies, two previous studies in the United States by one of this study’s authors have found that parental disability was correlated with increased likelihood of substantiation. In the first study, Lightfoot and colleagues (2021) found that parental disabilities increased the likelihood of substantiation by a range of 22%–63% depending on type of disability using the 2014 nationwide database of National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System in the United States. In a second study using the same dataset, DeZelar and Lightfoot (2020) also found that, overall, parents with disabilities had 70% higher odds of substantiation than parents without disabilities.…”