Abstract
Background
Media reports of child deaths as a result of abuse and neglect can influence how children move throughout the foster care system. Using the theoretical frameworks of moral panics and street level bureaucracy, the current study examined how news reports of violent child abuse and neglect cases relate to foster care children with implications for decision-making among child welfare workers.
Methods
Data from the AFCARS were assessed to evaluate the potential relationship between news report of child death and subsequent changes in trends in referrals to entry into foster care and exits out of foster care. News reports were coded using content analysis.
Results
For foster care entries, there was a delayed (1–2 months after news stories) increase in foster care entries after an increase in the number of articles on child deaths. For foster care exits, there was an immediate (same month as news stories) decrease in foster care exits after an increase in the number of articles on child deaths. This relationship reversed after 1 month, with more articles resulting in increases in exits.
Conclusions
Based on these results, it is possible that child services workers might be sensitive to news reports of violence against children and possibly use their professional positions to make decisions to help protect children and enact their own discretionary “street-level policies.”
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Data
The current data were compiled from data registered with AFCARS and NCANDS and a content analysis of newspaper articles. The data used in this study are accurate and valid to the best knowledge of the authors.
Notes
This date range was used due to the overlap and reliability of the available newspaper data and AFCARS data.
Details and further information on Washington State’s child abuse and neglect reporting and foster placement can be found at www.atg.wa.gov and dcyf.wa.gov.
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Acknowledgement
The data utilized in this publication were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, Cornell University, Ithaca NY; and have been used by permission. Data from the study were originally collected by the U.S. Children’s Bureau. Neither the collector of the original data, the funder, the Archive, Cornell University, or its agents or employees bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. This manuscript is not currently submitted to or under review in any other journal.
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Ethical Approval
The data utilized in this publication were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, Cornell University, Ithaca NY; and have been used by permission. Data from the study were originally collected by the U.S. Children’s Bureau. The data from the Substantiation of Child Abuse And Neglect Reports Project were originally collected by John Doris and John Eckenrode. Funding support for preparing the data for public distribution was provided by a contract (90-CA-1370) between the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect and Cornell University. Neither the collector of the original data, the funder, the Archive, Cornell University, or its agents or employees bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. Newspaper reports were compiled in accordance with ethical standards in research.
Informed Consent
The authors were not personally involved in an informed consent process. The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) is a federally mandated data collection system that receives case-level information on all children in foster care and those who have been adopted with a state agency’s involvement and report this data to the Department of Health and Human Services/Administration for Children and Families/Administration on Children Youth and Families/Children’s Bureau. From the Children’s Bureau, the data collected by AFCARS is submitted to the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University for distribution to qualified users. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) is a federally sponsored effort that annually collects and analyzes data on child abuse and neglect known to child protective services (CPS) agencies in the United States. The mandate for NCANDS is based on the 1988 amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) which directed the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create a national data collection and analysis program for state-level child abuse and neglect information. Subsequent amendments to CAPTA have led to new data collection requirements, many of which are incorporated into NCANDS. NCANDS data files are archived with the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University and available to researchers who are interested in using these data for statistical analyses and are approved to use the data. Newspaper articles were compiled in compliance with research ethics standards.
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Yelderman, L.A., Wood, S. & Summers, A. Media Reports of Child Deaths and the Relationship to Foster Care Entries and Exits. Child Youth Care Forum 51, 19–37 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09616-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09616-2