3-076 - Deconstructing Child Maltreatment in Early Head Start: Individual Child, Parenting, and Program Influences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Each year over 3 million children are reported to child welfare services (USDHHS, 2014), yet only a handful of early childhood programs have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing child maltreatment. This symposium includes four unique papers derived from the Early Head Start Child Welfare Studies (EHS-CWS). These papers extend the examination of the impact of Early Head Start (EHS) on child maltreatment. The papers will: 1) describe an extended investigation of impacts of EHS on child maltreatment, 2) outline meaningful differences between EHS program and control children in patterns of child maltreatment and child outcomes, 3) describe associations between early parenting behaviors and experiences of maltreatment, and 4) examine networks protective factors with emphasis on how they differ among neglected versus non-maltreated children. In addition, symposium presentations will address the variety of methodological approaches used in EHS-CWS. EHS-CWS utilized child welfare data and data from the national randomized study of Early Head Start (i.e., Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSREP) for children and their families in sixteen of the seventeen original EHSREP program sites (one state denied access). EHS-CWS researchers analyzed administrative data from state child welfare agencies for an eighteen-year period (1996-2014), and reviewed case files in seven sites. Programs like EHS that work with very young children and their families represent a particularly important potential pathway for reducing risk and supporting maltreatment prevention and/or recurrence.

Sub Unit

• Prevention and Interventions

Chair

• Catherine C. Ayoub, Harvard Medical School, Brazelton Center at Boston Children’s Hospital

Individual Presentations

• Impacts of the Early Head Start Program: Exploring Program-Mediated Effects on Child Maltreatment from Birth to age 17 - Presenting Author: Beth L Green, Portland State University; Catherine C. Ayoub, Harvard Medical School, Brazelton Center at Boston Children’s Hospital

• Multidimensional classification of child maltreatment in Early Head Start - Presenting Author: Jessica Dym Bartlett, Child Trends; Eric Regalbuto, Brazelton Touchpoints Center; Jordan Manchester, Brazelton Touchpoints Center; Crystaltina Montagna, Brazelton Touchpoints Center

• Associations Between Early Parenting, Parent Well-being, and Maltreatment in an Early Head Start Sample - Presenting Author: Rachel Chazan-Cohen, UMass Boston; Adam Von Ende, Brazelton Touchpoints Center; Katherine Wendy Paschall, University of Texas at Austin

• Networks of Risk and Protective Factors among Neglected and Non-Maltreated Children - Presenting Author: Carrie J. Furrer, Portland State University