Patterns of Parental Wellbeing Following Child Welfare System Contact: NSCAW Data

• In Event: The Impact of Child Welfare System Involvement on Parents

Abstract

A growing qualitative literature base has highlighted negative experiences of child welfare system involvement for parents, including experiences of racism and traumatization. However, qualitative studies do not lend themselves to causal inference nor generalizable results. In contrast, most quantitative research on the child welfare system has focused on its impact on children and produced decidedly mixed findings. Few quantitative studies have examined how child welfare system involvement may affect parents. In a rare exception, Grimon (2023) highlights that the experiences of parents may be similarly complicated to those of children, finding both potential benefits (e.g. increased participation in mental health and substance use treatment services) and potential consequences (e.g. increased incarceration and child welfare re-referrals). The present paper expands the research base to further explore the experiences of parents following varying levels of child welfare system contact using longitudinal data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing I and II (NSCAW I and II). The paper examines a variety of well-being indicators (e.g.  depressive symptoms, alcohol and drug dependence, income, contact with law enforcement, etc.), individually and together, subsequent to child welfare involvement. Specifically, it explores trajectories of parental wellbeing immediately following investigation and at 18-, and 36-month follow up. The project compares parental wellbeing trajectories based on demographic characteristics (e.g. race, age of child), case characteristics (e.g. case outcomes), and child welfare agency characteristics (e.g. agency policies, agency’s services). Finally, the paper explores relations between parental wellbeing trajectories and child wellbeing trajectories following system contact. The paper offers important insights into variations in trajectories of parental wellbeing following system contact, with implications for future research and policy related to the child welfare system and the lives of children and families.

Author

• Kathryn Taber, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Presenting Author