Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, OISE, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1V6.
Child Abuse Negl. 2014 Jan;38(1):1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.06.002. Epub 2013 Jul 5.
School professionals have a unique vantage point for identifying child maltreatment and they are a frequent source of referral to child protective services. Disturbingly, past studies have found that maltreatment concerns reported by educators go unsubstantiated by child protective services at much higher rates than suspected maltreatment reported by other professionals. This study explores whether there are systematic differences in the characteristics of cases reported by educators as compared to other professionals and examines whether such variation might account for differences in investigation outcome. Analyses were based on 7,725 cases of suspected maltreatment referred by professionals to child protective services from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect - 2003 a national database on the characteristics of children and families investigated by child protective services. School professionals were responsible for 35.8% of professional referrals. Reports by educators were much more likely to be unsubstantiated (45.3%) than those by other professionals (28.4%) in subsequent child protective investigation. Cases reported by educators were found to contain significantly more child risk factors (e.g., child emotional and behavioural problems) and fewer caregiver and family risk factors (e.g., caregiver mental health problem, single parent family) than cases reported by other professionals. Even controlling for these differences, educator-reported concerns were still 1.84, 95% CI [1.41, 2.40] times as likely to be unsubstantiated as reports from other professionals. Contrary to the notion that educators are mostly reporting non-severe cases, suspected/substantiated cases reported by school professionals were more likely to be judged as chronic and more likely to involve families with a previous child protection history. Results are concerning for the capacity of the education and child protection systems to work together to meet their shared goal of promoting healthy child development. Additional research is needed on the way in which child risks and problems influence child protective service, particularly in the context of chronic abuse and neglect and lack of availability of child and family mental health interventions. Potential problems with credibility of school professionals as reporters of child maltreatment concerns also warrant further investigation.
学校专业人员具有识别儿童虐待的独特优势，他们是向儿童保护服务机构转介的常见来源。令人不安的是，过去的研究发现，教育工作者报告的虐待问题未得到儿童保护服务机构的证实，其比例远高于其他专业人员报告的可疑虐待问题。本研究探讨了教育工作者报告的案件与其他专业人员报告的案件之间是否存在系统差异，并研究了这种差异是否可以解释调查结果的差异。分析基于加拿大虐待和忽视报告儿童情况的发生率研究 - 2003 年，这是一个关于儿童保护服务机构调查的儿童和家庭特征的全国数据库，该研究涉及专业人员向儿童保护服务机构转介的 7725 例疑似虐待案件。学校专业人员负责 35.8%的专业转介。在随后的儿童保护调查中，教育工作者的报告未得到证实的可能性（45.3%）远高于其他专业人员（28.4%）。研究发现，与其他专业人员报告的案件相比，教育工作者报告的案件包含更多的儿童风险因素（例如，儿童情绪和行为问题），而较少的照顾者和家庭风险因素（例如，照顾者心理健康问题，单亲家庭）。即使控制了这些差异，教育工作者报告的问题仍然有 1.84 倍的可能性（95%CI [1.41，2.40]）未得到证实，而其他专业人员报告的问题则未得到证实。与教育工作者主要报告非严重案件的观念相反，学校专业人员报告的疑似/证实案件更有可能被判定为慢性案件，并且更有可能涉及有先前儿童保护史的家庭。结果令人担忧，因为教育和儿童保护系统在共同实现促进儿童健康发展的共同目标方面的能力存在问题。需要对儿童风险和问题如何影响儿童保护服务的方式进行更多研究，特别是在慢性虐待和忽视以及缺乏儿童和家庭心理健康干预的情况下。学校专业人员作为儿童虐待问题报告人的可信度存在潜在问题，也值得进一步调查。
