1 University of Akron, OH, USA.
2 West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2019 Aug;34(16):3516-3541. doi: 10.1177/0886260516670880. Epub 2016 Sep 28.
In cases of suspected child maltreatment, the caseworkers' evaluations of the harm and risk to the child are vital in determining if children are being abused and ultimately whether services are provided to the family. These evaluations are dependent on information caseworkers are able to uncover during their investigation, but may not reflect the experiences of the child. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW-I), this study first compares how consistent children's claims of physical victimization are with caseworkers' assessments of harm, severity of risk, and whether there is physical abuse occurring. Second, we examine whether any discrepancies are influenced by the demographic characteristics of the child. Based on cross-tabulations, mean tests of difference, and one-way ANOVA, we find a high degree of overlap in children's reports of violence with caseworkers' reports of harm, the potential for risk, and the presence of physical abuse. However, there are also important differences. Among children who reported acts of physical violence occurred "lots of times," 23% of the cases were viewed by the caseworker as causing "no harm" to the child and over 60% were not regarded as physical abuse. The children's age and sex are both significant predictors of discrepancies, with more discrepancies between caseworkers and young children or teens as well as boys. Implications of this study are that additional training is needed to help caseworkers build rapport with the children. We also suggest that Child Protective Services (CPS) should implement alternative ways for children to report their experiences other than face-to-face interviews with caseworkers.
在疑似儿童虐待的情况下，社会工作者对儿童所受伤害和风险的评估对于确定儿童是否受到虐待以及最终是否向家庭提供服务至关重要。这些评估取决于社会工作者在调查过程中能够发现的信息，但可能无法反映儿童的实际经历。本研究利用全国儿童和青少年福利调查（NSCAW-I）的数据，首先比较了儿童对身体受害的声称与社会工作者对伤害、风险严重程度以及是否存在身体虐待的评估之间的一致性。其次，我们考察了任何差异是否受到儿童人口特征的影响。基于交叉表、均值差异检验和单向方差分析，我们发现儿童对暴力的报告与社会工作者对伤害、潜在风险和身体虐待的报告之间存在高度重叠。然而，也存在重要差异。在报告身体暴力行为“很多次”发生的儿童中，有 23%的案例被社会工作者视为对儿童“没有伤害”，超过 60%的案例不被视为身体虐待。儿童的年龄和性别都是差异的显著预测因素，年龄较小的儿童或青少年以及男孩与社会工作者之间的差异更大。本研究的意义在于，需要提供更多的培训，以帮助社会工作者与儿童建立融洽关系。我们还建议儿童保护服务机构（CPS）应实施其他替代方式，让儿童报告其经历，而不仅仅是与社会工作者进行面对面访谈。
