Poster #96 - Social Safety Net Engagement and Child Welfare Outcomes: Evidence from Wisconsin Administrative Data

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Background:
Child protective services (CPS) involvement—particularly when it results in out-of-home placement—is often a marker of acute family stress and a precursor to long-term adverse outcomes. While past research often focuses narrowly on substantiated cases, this study offers a broader view of system contact by estimating cumulative CPS risk from birth through adolescence, disaggregated by maltreatment subtype, child age, and race/ethnicity. It also examines how CPS-involved children and their families engage with key safety net programs prior to CPS contact and how these patterns vary by placement and permanency outcomes.

Objectives:
To assess prior social welfare program use among Wisconsin children reported to CPS and examine how these patterns are associated with child welfare outcomes, including out-of-home placement and foster care trajectories.

Methods:
Using linked longitudinal records from the Wisconsin Administrative Data Core (WADC), we constructed a 2023 cohort of all children first reported to CPS, including screened-in and screened-out referrals, substantiated and unsubstantiated cases, and those placed in out-of-home care. We tracked family participation in programs like Medicaid, SNAP, W-2, and child care subsidies, and estimated cumulative CPS contact by race/ethnicity, age, and maltreatment subtype. Contextual factors such as parental employment and neighborhood disadvantage were included.

Results:
Preliminary analyses reveal that nearly 90% of CPS-involved children had prior engagement with at least one public assistance program, most commonly Medical assistance and SNAP (FoodShare). Children under age 5 made up 32.5% of all CPS-involved cases but accounted for over half (51.2%) of out-of-home care placements—underscoring both early vulnerability and deep system involvement. For many, program participation began well before CPS contact, pointing to chronic economic instability. Children who entered foster care experienced more fragmented benefit histories, higher income volatility, and greater caregiver detachment from the labor force. Program use was most intense among children with multiple placements, non-kin placements, or no permanency outcome, while those reunified or placed with kin showed more stable benefit engagement and shorter stays in care.Cumulative risk estimates suggest that CPS investigations—regardless of substantiation—are more widespread than previously understood, with substantial racial and geographic disparities. Children of color and those in high-poverty areas were significantly more likely to face repeated CPS contact, reflecting systemic inequalities in exposure to child welfare interventions.

Conclusions:
Findings highlight the predictive potential of administrative program data in identifying children at heightened risk for serious CPS outcomes. Early warning signs—such as erratic benefit usage, repeated placement changes, and economic precarity—offer critical leverage points for preventive intervention. Strengthening the social safety net through more consistent engagement, interagency coordination, and proactive outreach may reduce unnecessary removals, promote timely reunification, and enhance child and family well-being. Integrating cross-system data enables more targeted, equitable, and efficient child welfare strategies—particularly for children facing layered disadvantages across developmental, familial, and structural domains.

 

Authors

• Anna Ko, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Presenting Author

• Lawrence M. Berger, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Jessica Erin Pac, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Co-Author