Research

Child Welfare

Journal Articles
Resources

Child Sexual Abuse Documentation in Primary Care Settings

In this study, primary care medical records were reviewed for children ages 3 to 17 with a subspecialty sexual abuse (SA) evaluation to assess factors associated with documentation of SA history and mental health management by the primary care provider.

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Journal Articles
Resources

Associations of Childhood Adversity with Emotional Well-Being and Educational Achievement: A Review and Meta-Analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined associations of three types of ACEs (abuse, neglect, and household dysfunctions) with experiential (emotional quality of momentary and everyday experiences) and reflective (judgments about life satisfaction, sense of meaning, and ability to pursue goals that can include and extend beyond the self) facets of emotional well-being (EWB) and educational achievement.

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Policy Briefs
Research Brief
Resources

What We Know About Current Electronic Health Record Tools for the Identification and Management of Child Abuse

This research brief summarizes finding from Electronic Health Record Tools to Identify Child Maltreatment: Scoping Literature Review and Key Informant Interviews, which reviewed existing research on EHR-based child abuse screens and clinical decision support systems. The authors also collected the perspectives of medical personnel on the implementation of such tools.

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Research Project

Substance Use Treatment & Access to Resources Study

Evaluation of the Substance use Treatment and Access to Resources and Supports (STARS) program for pregnant women who have a substance use issue and babies who have been exposed to substances.

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Research Project

Positive Parenting App Study

Project Description This study of the postive parenting app tests the feasibility and effectiveness of a mobile-based app intervention designed to enhance home visiting by providing in-the-moment parenting tips with the goal of increasing healthy parent-child interactions leading to resiliency in high-risk children. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) profoundly influence brain and behavioral development and long-term…

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Journal Articles
Resources

Birth Spacing and Child Maltreatment: Population-Level Estimates for North Carolina

Findings provide the strongest evidence to date that very short birth spacing of zero through 6 months from last birth to the index child’s conception is a prenatal predictor of child maltreatment (indexed as child welfare involvement) throughout early childhood. However, challenging previous empirical evidence, this study reports inconsistent results for benefits of additional spacing delay beyond 6 months with regard to child maltreatment risk reduction, especially for children of racial and ethnic minorities.

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Policy Briefs
Research Brief
Resources

Children Evaluated for Maltreatment Have Higher Subsequent Emergency Department and Inpatient Care Utilization than the General Pediatric Population

Receipt of maltreatment evaluation was associated with a higher risk of subsequent acute health service use, both for maltreatment-related illnesses and for broader conditions.

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Journal Articles

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Levels

The authors performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of ACE exposure on Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels – a neural biomarker involved in childhood and adult neurogenesis and long-term memory formation.

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Research Project

Durham Navigation Study

The Durham Navigation Study is a randomized control trial to evaluate the impact of Community Navigation on outcomes for young children and their families.

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Journal Articles

State-Level Legal and Sociodemographic Correlates of Child Marriage Rates in the United States

Although there is a breadth of knowledge on child marriage in many low- and middle-income countries, little research and policy discussion exists surrounding child marriage within the United States. Using administrative data from several sources, this study examines how a range of different state-level variables, including political lean, academic performance, median household income, religiosity, population density, minimum age requirements and other state laws, such as parental and judicial consent, and median distance to an abortion clinic are related to variation in child marriage rates across states.

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Journal Articles

What Do Child Abuse and Neglect Medical Evaluation Consultation Notes Tell Researchers and Clinicians?

Child abuse and neglect medical experts provide care to children when there is concern for maltreatment. Their clinical notes contain valuable information. This article includes the results of creating and implemented a coding system for data abstraction from these notes.

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Policy Briefs
Resources

Behavioral Economics & Child and Family Policy: A Research Primer

Behavioral economics (BE) combines economics with social psychology and cognitive decision-making to offer a broader framework for understanding factors that affect people’s decisions and actions. It provides a way to examine how decisions can be shaped not only by information and costs but by how choices are designed, as well as the context and circumstances of the moment in which decisions are made.

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Journal Articles

Electronic Health Record Tools to Identify Child Maltreatment: Scoping Literature Review and Key Informant Interviews

We conducted a scoping literature review and key informant interviews of child maltreatment experts to (1) document the existing research evidence on the performance of EHR-based child abuse screens (EHR-CA-S) and clinical decision support systems (EHR-CA-CDSS )and (2) examine clinical perspectives regarding the use of such tools and factors that affect uptake. We find that current evidence does not support adoption of a particular CA-S or CA-CDSS and that further refinement of these tools is necessary.

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Research Project

Henderson-Polk Family Life Survey

The Henderson-Polk Family Life Survey is an impact evaluation of the Family Connects home visiting program, when delivered using a hybrid telehealth model.

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Journal Articles

Text-Based Crisis Service Users’ Perceptions of Seeking Child Maltreatment-Related Support From Formal Systems

Many young people were hesitant to reach out to formal systems in the future, in part because of negative experiences during past disclosure experiences. Young people may be more likely to seek support through their preferred communication medium, so providing text- and chat-based communication may be one way to encourage and facilitate disclosure.

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Research Project

Early Identification and Prevention of Child Maltreatment: Cross-Agency Processes and Outcomes

Local social service agencies and health care providers routinely make decisions regarding a child’s risk for maltreatment. Yet, providers have limited information to guide their decisions and rarely receive feedback regarding the children’s long-term outcomes.

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Research Project

Identifying Opportunities to Prevent Child Maltreatment in the Health and Social Services Systems

Developing a better understanding of the types of interactions that at-risk children and their families have with professionals who could recognize risk factors and direct families to resources to help prevent child maltreatment.

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Research Project

Evaluation of the Responsive Early Access for Durham’s Young Children (READY)

Evaluation of a unified strategy to early childhood development called Responsive Early Access for Durham’s Young Children (READY). READY was created by a Durham-based nonprofit in partnership with early care and education, pediatrics, family support, mental health, and homeless services organizations and professionals.

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Research Project

Partnering for Excellence

This project is an evaluation of Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE), a model that seeks to improve the well-being of children and families in contact with the child welfare system and reduce the need for higher end behavioral services through a more trauma-informed community, which can result in reduces in behavioral healthcare expenditures.

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Research Project

Reducing the Need for Out-of-home Placements: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine the Effects of Family Centered Treatment on Well-Being Outcomes and Public Dollar Costs

This project is a state-wide randomized controlled study of Family Centered Treatment. The project is implemented in partnership with the Family Centered Treatment Foundation (FCTF), a nonprofit organization serving over 60 sites across 10 U.S. states. FCTF provides licensing, training, and oversight of the Family Centered Treatment (FCT) model to human service organizations.

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Research Project

Family Connects for Get Ready Guilford Initiative

Project Description This effort will expand the operational capacity of the Guilford County Department of Public Health to implement the Family Connects model in support of Phase One of the Get Ready Guilford Initiative. Project Goals The overall goal of the Get Ready Guilford Initiative is to promote the health, development, and school readiness of…

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Research Project

Guilford Collaborative Toward Universal Reach and Impact During the Prenatal Period

Project Description Over the course of 18 months, Family Connects and Nurse-Family Partnership proposed to develop, field test, and implement an innovative approach to reaching and serving all pregnant women in three zip codes in Guilford County, NC. Project Goals Our goal is to have an impact on the entire population of women giving birth…

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Research Project

Improving Child Welfare Outcomes through Systems of Care

Project Description The Center partnered with the N.C. Division of Social Services, county-level departments of social services, other contractors and families for the project. Analysis of data from both the SOC and Multiple Response System (MRS) evaluations has shown that implementing MRS and SOC simultaneously not only enhanced the implementation of MRS, but also provided positive…

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Research Project

Developing, Implementing and Evaluating a Comprehensive Family Assessment to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes in Alamance County, NC

Project Description The Children’s Bureau awarded the Alamance County Department of Social Services (ACDSS) one of five national grants to demonstrate the use of Comprehensive Family Assessments (CFA) to improve child welfare outcomes. The Center for Child and Family Policy partnered with ACDSS to develop, implement, and evaluate an evidence-based model for conducting comprehensive family assessments,…

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Research Project

Studying Whether Two North Carolina Legal Interventions Reduce Child Maltreatment

Project Description Child maltreatment is an important public health issue; exposure increases the risk of adverse health consequences including injury, substance use, obesity, depression, and death. The criminal justice system’s role in reducing such crimes is not well understood. Further, few studies examines whether Family Drug Treatment Courts prevent maltreatment. Project Goals This study has…

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Research Project

Durham Family Initiative

Project Description The Durham Family Initiative was a 12-year collaboration with the Center for Child and Family Health supported by the The Duke Endowment to improve family well-being and reduce child maltreatment in Durham County. The endeavor began by providing community-based efforts to help families support their children’s health, growth and development in stressed neighborhoods…

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Research Project

Integration of Family Connects and HealthySteps in Guilford County

Purpose The Center for Child and Family Policy is partnering with the Center for Child and Family Health and ZERO TO THREE to develop a novel integration of Family Connects and HealthySteps in Guilford County, NC. Both are proven programs that improve outcomes for very young children. Goal The integration of the two programs promises to provide all children in…

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Research Project

Causes, Consequences, and Prevention of Child Maltreatment

Project Description Research Triangle scientists with demonstrated expertise in the pressing public health problem of child maltreatment planned to develop a multidisciplinary, product-oriented scholarly work group to address the causes, consequences, and prevention of child maltreatment. Project Goals The specific activities included: convening regular meetings to share research findings and to identify specific topics for…

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Research Project

Doris Duke Fellowships for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

Project Description The Doris Duke Fellowships for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect is designed to identify and develop a new generation of leaders capable of and interested in creating initiatives that will advance child abuse prevention practice and policy. Because the prevention of child maltreatment requires knowledge and collaboration from diverse fields, the…

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Research Project

Prospective Study of Infant Development

The Prospective Study of Infant Development is a randomized control trial evaluation of the Family Connects program (formerly Durham Connects). In order to examine the ways in which family characteristics and community services are associated with family well-being, the Prospective Study of Infant Development interviewed families who had participated in Durham Connects on multiple aspects of family life, including parents’ opinions about parenting, child health and medical care, access and receipt of family services, and mothers’ well-being.

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Research Project

Durham Integrated Domestic Violence Response System (DIDVRS)

Project Description The Durham Integrated Domestic Violence Response System (DIDVRS) is a collaborative project that includes the Durham County Department of Social Services (DCDSS), the Durham Crisis Response Center (DCRC), the Durham Police Department (DPD), Durham County Emergency Medical Services (EMS), the Center for Child and Family Health (CCFH), Exchange Family Center (EFC), and the…

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Research Project

Evaluation of Implementation of Multiple Response System

Project Description The North Carolina General Assembly in July 2001 mandated that the state Division of Social Services develop and pilot a county-level differential response system that used a family assessment track for selected reports of child maltreatment in addition to the traditional investigative process. North Carolina developed seven strategies as part of the larger…

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Journal Articles
Resources

Effect of a Universal Postpartum Nurse Home Visiting Program on Child Maltreatment and Emergency Medical Care at 5 Years of Age: A Randomized Clinical Trial

The Family Connects (FC) program, a community-wide nurse home visiting program for newborns, has been shown to provide benefits for children and families through the first 5 years of life.

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Book Chapter
Resources

Maternal Imprisonment and the Timing of Children’s Foster Care Involvement

Beth Gifford, Megan Golonka and Kelly Evans wrote a chapter of the book, Children with Incarceratead Mothers Separation, Loss, and Reunification. The chapter summarized findings of their study that examined the timing of mother’s incarceration in relation to her children’s involvement with social services, contributory factors leading to foster care placement, and foster care discharge outcomes.

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Policy Briefs
Resources

Reframing Law Enforcement’s Approach to Domestic Violence Calls

The Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy partnered with the Durham Crisis Response Center, the Exchange Family Center, the Center for Child and Family Health, and the Durham County Department of Social Services to create the Durham Integrated Domestic Violence Response System (DIDVRS). DIDVRS is an evidence-based, community-led approach to more appropriately address…

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Book Chapter
Resources

North Carolina Resilience and Learning Project

Katie Rosanbalm wrote the opening chapter of a book entitled, Alleviating the Educational Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences. The book is a collection of approaches to trauma-informed education based on school-university-community collaborations. Rosanbalm’s chapter summarizes the literature on why trauma-informed strategies are important to academic success and describes the specifics of the Resilience and Learning Model. It concludes with preliminary qualitative findings from pilot schools.

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Journal Articles

Mothers and fathers in the criminal justice system and children’s child protective services involvement

Parents charged with a criminal offense had higher rates of having a child protective services (CPS) assessment/investigation during the three years preceding the charge than parents who were not charged. Changing parental incarceration rates would change CPS caseloads substantially.

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Books
Resources

State of Empowerment: Low-Income Families and the New Welfare State

Carolyn Barnes uses ethnographic accounts of three organizations to reveal how interacting with government-funded after-school programs can enhance the civic and political lives of low-income citizens.

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Reports
Resources

Where Does the Money Go

This report provides a comprehensive look at 2014 social spending by the federal government on children ages 0-8 and breaks down program spending by family income.

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Policy Briefs
Resources

Multiple Response System and System of Care: Two Policy Reforms Designed to Improve The Child Welfare System

Child abuse and neglect is a serious problem in the United States. From 2004 to 2005 the number of substantiated reports of maltreatment increased by 27,000 cases from 872,000 to 899,000.

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Reports
Resources

Multiple Response System (MRS) Evaluation Report to the North Carolina Division of Social Services (NCDSS) 2006

At the request of the North Carolina Division of Social Services (NCDSS), the Center for Child and Family Policy at The Terry Sanford Institute at Duke University evaluated the Multiple Response System (MRS) reform for families reported to child welfare in 10 MRS pilot counties.

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Reports
Resources

Multiple Response System (MRS) Evaluation Report to the North Carolina Division of Social Services (NCDSS) 2004

In response to a request from the North Carolina Division of Social Services (DSS),Center for Child and Family Policy at The Terry Sanford Institute at Duke University evaluated the Multiple Response System reform for families reported for child maltreatment.

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