Wrapping Our Arms Around Them: Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect Among Low-Income Families Through Parent Support Programs: An Assessment of Barriers and Best Practices

Problem Statement:

Despite the efforts of the Children’s Trust Fund and other statewide and local organizations, child abuse and neglect remains a major problem in Missouri. This year Missouri dropped in the national rankings on child wellbeing to 27^th out of 50 states. Between 2007 and 2011 the rate of child abuse and neglect in the state rose from 32.5 per 1,000 to 33.7 per 1,000 children. This is problematic because child abuse and neglect has devastating and long-lasting impacts for both its victims and for society as a whole. Among the former, research has found evidence of lower academic achievement and psychological problems including depression, anxiety, and difficulty forming attachments. These children also have a higher risk of juvenile delinquency and violent behaviors, teen pregnancy, and drug use. On a larger scale, it is estimated that the total cost of child abuse and neglect in the U.S. is around $94 billion annually. This includes the direct costs of the immediate health and welfare needs of abused children and the indirect costs created by long-term effects of the phenomenon. The best strategy to protect children in a cost-effective manner is to prevent child abuse and neglect before it occurs. In fact, every dollar spent on prevention can save $7-18 in future costs.

Missouri already has a wide variety of services dedicated to protecting children and preventing child abuse and neglect (CAN). However, there are several reasons that existing services are proving inadequate:

1. Many organizations fail to recognize the interconnectedness of risk factors for CAN.

Current research points towards the importance of considering an ecological model for causes of child abuse and neglect, which acknowledges the complex interactions of different factors at the individual, family, community, and societal levels. Yet, organizations tend to have limited resources and do not want to overextend themselves, so they will target a specific risk factor or focus on one primary intervention strategy. The result is “a wide range of disconnected and under-funded prevention activities,” which is compounded by the lack of an adequate referral system between agencies addressing different aspects of the problem. At Nurses for Newborns – a family support organization operating in the St. Louis area – nurses will often resort to Google to find other local programs or resources that can meet additional client needs that go beyond the scope of NFN’s mission. There is simply no easily-accessible list or database for service providers to rely on, putting an unnecessary burden on staff who are already overextended.

2. Prevention programs do not do enough to lower barriers to access for low-income and single-parent families.

In 2010, 21.3% of Missouri’s children lived in poverty and 33.3% lived in a single-parent household. Both of these are important risk factors for child abuse and neglect. Oftentimes, parents in these groups lack support and struggle to find transportation or secure childcare so they can access necessary services. Many also work long hours, causing problems when services are only available during the typical business day.

3. Programs frequently fail to account for cultural and ethnic differences in parenting practices.

The most common means of assuring cultural competency in interventions have been to provide services in different languages and to hire service providers of similar racial or ethnic background as the target population. Less attention has been given to researching varying effects of prevention programs on such groups or to recognizing relevant differences in concepts of childrearing and in existing community structures. Parent education programs, in particular, have seen less success among minority groups because these populations may perceive them as less relevant to their own lifestyles and values.

Because of its focus on funding and integration of primary and secondary prevention efforts, the Children’s Trust Fund is in a unique position to help address these problems and to strengthen Missouri’s system of parent support and child maltreatment prevention.