Engagement in Child Protective Services: The Role of Substance Abuse, Intimate Partner Violence and Race
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Engagement in Child Protective Services: The Role of Substance Abuse, Intimate Partner Violence and Race Rebecca G. Mirick
Published online: 5 December 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Effectively engaging parents has been a continuing challenge for child protection workers. A lack of engagement can lead to significant negative consequences for families. This preliminary study explored the ability of family factors (e.g.; legal involvement, history with child protective services, substance abuse, child placement, intimate partner violence, identifying as Black, Latino or biracial) to predict parent engagement with child welfare services. A four dimensional measure of engagement with child protective services (Yatchmenoff, Res Soc Work Pract 15(2):84–96, 2005) was used which included receptivity, buy-in, working relationship and mistrust. The variables of parental substance abuse, intimate partner violence and identifying as Black, Latino or biracial were significant predictors of all four dimensions of engagement although each dimension was predicted by a unique combination of these factors. Substance abuse positively predicted engagement while intimate partner violence and identifying as Black, Latino or biracial negatively predicted engagement. The implications of these findings for child protection practice are described. Recommendations are made for future research. Keywords Child welfare Engagement Parents Parental engagement Child protection
Introduction Parent engagement is an area of increasing interest in child protection work (Altman 2008; Staudt 2007). As a result, many child protection agencies have prioritized parent engagement efforts (Altman 2008; Crampton 2007; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children & Families 2003), R. G. Mirick (&) Salem State University School of Social Work, Salem, MA, USA e-mail: [email protected]
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adopted family centered, strength based approaches and focused attention on developing evidence based practices for parent engagement (Barth 2008; Platt 2012). Even after agencies have begun to use this strengths based, collaborative approach, parent participation in services continues to be low (Altman 2008; Lonne et al. 2009; Michalopoulos et al. 2012), which suggests important aspects of engagement are still not well understood (Altman 2005) and there is little consensus on the most effective evidence based strategies for engagement (Barth 2008; Littell and Shlonsky 2010). Two primary factors have sparked the focus on parental engagement. First, a minimal level of engagement is necessary in order for families to receive and benefit from child welfare services. Behaviors such as not keeping appointments, not allowing child protective workers in the home, lack of follow-through with treatment goals and inconsistent contact with children, all considered behavioral indicators of lack of engagement (Ferguson 2009) challenge workers’ abilities to provide services and deny parents the opportu
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