Font Sarah, Maguire-Jack Kathryn
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 Aug;36(15-16):7414-7435. doi: 10.1177/0886260519834996. Epub 2019 Mar 12.
Substantiation of child maltreatment is among the most important decisions made by Child Protective Services and may have wide-reaching implications for child and family well-being. Yet, relatively little research has been undertaken to understand the organizational context of substantiation. Using national population data from the United States, this study examined the associations between state and county contexts with county substantiation rates using multilevel negative binomial regression. The results show that organizational context (policy and practice characteristics) influences substantiation rates. In particular, standards of evidence, alternative options for investigation and disposition of allegations, and workload burden were all significant predictions of substantiation rates. However, the associations of organizational factors and substantiation varied across types of maltreatment allegations; neglect and physical abuse allegations were more heavily influenced by organizational factors than sexual abuse or multi-type maltreatment allegations. Implications for child protection policy and practice are discussed.
对虐待儿童情况的证实是儿童保护服务机构做出的最重要决定之一，可能会对儿童和家庭福祉产生广泛影响。然而，为了解证实过程的组织背景所开展的研究相对较少。本研究利用来自美国的全国人口数据，通过多层次负二项回归分析了州和县级背景与县级证实率之间的关联。结果表明，组织背景（政策和实践特征）会影响证实率。具体而言，证据标准、对指控进行调查和处置的替代选项以及工作量负担都是证实率的重要预测因素。然而，组织因素与证实情况之间的关联因虐待指控类型而异；忽视和身体虐待指控比性虐待或多种类型虐待指控更容易受到组织因素的影响。本文还讨论了对儿童保护政策和实践的启示。
