Research Topic

Child Welfare

Children and youth thrive when they have strong, safe, and supportive relationships and environments. However, many families struggle to provide such relationships and environments. CCFP researchers engage in longitudinal studies, partnerships with state and local social service agencies, and develop and evaluate innovative programs and services to understand and support struggling families and reduce child maltreatment.

Latest Research

Journal Articles

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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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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Katie Rosanbalm

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Kenneth Dodge

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Beth Gifford

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Elizabeth Snyder-Fickler

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Nicole Lawrence

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Helen Milojevich

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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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learn more about Durham Navigation Study

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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learn more about Henderson-Polk Family Life Survey

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

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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learn more about Identifying Opportunities to Prevent Child Maltreatment in the Health and Social Services Systems
October 20, 2022
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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March 22, 2022
Policy Briefs

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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February 4, 2022
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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