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Infant Placement in Canadian Child Maltreatment-Related Investigations

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Abstract

This study examined factors associated with decisions in favour of out-of-home placement following investigations involving infants at risk of maltreatment. We used data from a sample of children less than 1 year of age (n = 763) investigated by child welfare services across Canada in 2003. We tested unadjusted relationships with placement using Pearson’s chi-square statistic. Multivariate logistic regression analyses identified parental substance abuse, mental health problems and few social supports as being associated with an increased likelihood of placement. Child’s toxicology at birth, abandonment, physical harm and number of previous family openings also increased the likelihood of placement. Several variables that have been associated with increased placement in previous studies, such as single motherhood and young maternal age, did not show a statistically significant association in our analysis. Among those infants that were placed, there was insufficient power to compare kinship and non-kinship care. This analysis demonstrates the need for the implementation of established prevention programs, such as the Nurse-Family Partnership and substance abuse programs for caregivers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Injury and Child Maltreatment Section, Health Surveillance and Epidemiology Division, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Lil Tonmyr & Gabriela Williams

  2. School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Susan M. Jack

  3. Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, and of Pediatrics, Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Harriet L. MacMillan

  4. Tunney’s Pasture, AL 1910C, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0K9, Canada

    Lil Tonmyr

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  1. Lil Tonmyr
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  2. Gabriela Williams
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  3. Susan M. Jack
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  4. Harriet L. MacMillan
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Correspondence to Lil Tonmyr.

Additional information

The authors thank Jasminka Draca for research assistance.

Dr. Jack holds the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Reproduction and Child Health New Investigator Personnel Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. MacMillan holds the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies and is funded by the Institute of Gender and Health through the CIHR Centres for Research Development.

Data used in this publication are from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect, and are used with the permission of the Public Health Agency of Canada. The study was funded by the federal, provincial and territorial governments of Canada, the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society, and the Bell Canada Child Welfare Research Unit of the University of Toronto. The analyses and interpretations presented in this work do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the above-mentioned sponsors.

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Tonmyr, L., Williams, G., Jack, S.M. et al. Infant Placement in Canadian Child Maltreatment-Related Investigations. Int J Ment Health Addiction 9, 441–459 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-011-9350-5

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