Background As part of the implementation of Family First Preservation Services Act, and to meet legal requirements set by the Indiana State Legislature in 2019, Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) implemented Indiana Family Preservation Services (INFPS) to maintain children in the home when it is deemed safe to do so. Objective This paper explores the effects of INFPS on child removal episodes

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with several negative health and behavioral outcomes during adolescence, but most of the extant research has employed ACEs scores at one or two time points. Studies have not assessed whether latent class ACEs trajectories affect adolescent problem behaviors and conditions. Objectives We used longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and

Background Violence against children is an issue of serious concern. Stigma impacts coping with childhood trauma. A central aspect regarding disclosing trauma and seeking help is the social perception of the victim and survivor's gender. Objective This review aims to synthesize qualitative and quantitative research about the impact of the victim and survivor gender on the societal perceptions of individuals

Background The global evidence regarding sexual exploitation of children (SEC) is expanding, however, the majority of research continues to focus on girls. ECPAT International's Global Boys Initiative is a major contribution to broadening knowledge by exploring how sexual exploitation impacts boys specifically. Objective This discussion paper explores data from the initiative to better understand how

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) negatively impact people's physical and mental health and social functioning. Research literature focuses on the impact of ACEs on physical and mental health, yet to our knowledge, no study has examined the literature on ACEs, mental health, and social functioning outcomes. Objective To map how ACEs, mental health, and social functioning outcomes have

Youth engagement in research, which involves meaningfully collaborating with youth as full partners in the research process, has contributed to improved research collaborations, enhanced youth participation, and increased motivation for researchers to address scientific questions relevant to youth. Engaging youth as partners in the research process is especially needed in the field of child maltreatment

Background To assess for occult fractures, physicians often opt to obtain skeletal surveys (SS) in young, acutely head-injured patients who present with skull fractures. Data informing optimal decision management are lacking. Objective To determine the positive yields of radiologic SS in young patients with skull fractures presumed to be at low vs. high risk for abuse. Participants and setting 476

Background Harmful sexual behavior (HSB) displayed by children and young people under the age of 18 has been described as developmentally inappropriate, may be harmful towards self or others, or be abusive towards another child, young person, or adult. Early intervention and treatment completion are crucial to cease HSB, reduce impacts and address underlying issues for the child who has displayed HSB

Background Women prisoners are a growing portion of the prison population. Health and social outcomes of their children have been studied and found to be poor, but little is known about child protection outcomes. Objectives Ascertain child protection system contact of children exposed to maternal incarceration. Participants and setting All children born between 1985 and 2011 exposed to the incarceration

Background Survivors' surveys on the frequency of sexual offenses committed by women indicated a prevalence rate of 9.9 % to 11.6 %. Nevertheless, only a few studies have explored the long-term consequences of abuse on survivors. Objectives Examine the lived experiences and the long-term consequences of child sexual abuse committed by women. Participants Fifteen adult participants who experienced child

Background Ophthalmic imaging plays an increasingly important role the evaluation of abusive head trauma, however these imaging modalities may be unfamiliar to non-ophthalmologists. Objective To provide pediatricians and child abuse pediatric professionals with background on ophthalmic imaging techniques in the context of suspected abuse, as well as information on commercial options and costs for those

Background Integrated programmes addressing varying forms of violence and abuse are increasingly delivered to children under 12 but uncertainty remains about what should be delivered to whom, when and in what dose. Objective To examine the impact of Speak Out Stay Safe (SOSS) - an integrated prevention programme for children under 12 - and whether impact varied by age, gender and context. Participants

Background The negative effects of childhood maltreatment can be intergenerational, and the prenatal period may play an important role in this intergenerational transmission. Maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction and maternal psychopathology represent two mechanisms through which the effects of childhood maltreatment are hypothesized to be transmitted across generations. Objective

Background Data available on the economics of medical child protection teams stems from prior surveys delivered in 2008 and 2012. Objective The objective was to describe the current financing strategies of medical child maltreatment groups for benchmarking purposes. Additionally, we aimed to quantify often difficult to measure child abuse services that provide value to pediatric hospitals. Participants

Background The global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in situations of risk of child abuse and neglect. Objective The objective of this study was to examine whether the Attachment Video-feedback Intervention (AVI) program can improve protective factors (decrease parental stress and household chaos, increase parent-child emotional availability and parental reflective

Background Children in out-of-home care (OOHC) are generally at increased risk of health and social adversities compared to their peers. However, the experiences of children in OOHC are not uniform and their associated health and social indices may vary in relation to characteristics of OOHC placements and child protection contact. Objective To examine associations between a range of characteristics

Background Affiliation has a positive role on well-being and human development. Most children and youth living in residential youth care (RYC) experienced maltreatment from significant others, becoming a particularly vulnerable group. Their complex needs require well trained caregivers who help them to heal and thrive. Objective This cluster randomized trial sought to test the Compassionate Mind Training

Background Psychological maltreatment may be one of the causes of adults' loneliness despite having a partner. There are some links between psychological maltreatment, self-criticism, relationship satisfaction, and loneliness in the literature. But the nature of these links requires further explanation. Objective The present study examined the serial mediation role of self-criticism and romantic relationship

Objective The current study explored the experience of reunification as place identity verification for Indigenous individuals who were fostered/adopted as youth. Background Research on reunification tends to focus on disproportionality in child welfare and the factors associated with reunification. Few studies focus on experiences of reunification among Indigenous individuals including their perceptions

Background To establish national prevalence of child maltreatment, reliable, valid and contextually appropriate measurement is needed. This paper outlines the refinement, adaptation and testing of child maltreatment sections of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ)-R2 for use in the Australian context. Methods Three phases were undertaken: 1) Conceptual analysis of the five forms of child

Background Mobility restrictions and economic downfall as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may increase the risk of child maltreatment, including increased risk for violent discipline use by parents. Objective We examined the socio-economic and psychosocial determinants of violent discipline among parents against children in Asia Pacific countries. Participants & settings This secondary data analysis

Background Emotion regulation (ER) and emotion recognition (ERC) deficits are frequently observed in the sequelae of child maltreatment (CM). Despite a wealth of research on emotional functioning, these emotional processes are often presented as independent but related functions. As such, there is currently no theoretical framework on how different components of emotional competence, such as ER and

Background Although children with histories of maltreament are more likely to engage with mental healthcare than non-maltreated children, few studies have examined the impact of maltreatment on children's mental health outcome improvement over time. Objective The current study addresses this gap in the present literature by exploring the ways that histories of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse

Background Researchers have documented that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with adverse long-term consequences for mental health, including increased risk for depression. However, the type and dose-response effects of ACE on depression risk need further exploration. Objective We aimed to synthesize the evidence on the relationship between ACEs measured by ACE International Questionnaire

Background Restoration of Aboriginal children (also called reunification) is an under-researched area despite being the preferred permanency outcome for children. Objective To investigate the rate of restoration for Aboriginal children, the factors that influence restoration, and to explore the experiences of parents whose Aboriginal children have been restored, and their children. Participants and

Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) affects all children, but research on the needs and experiences of boys is lacking, support services are limited, and workers lack specialized training to meet their specific needs. This paper explores the perspectives and experiences of 404 Frontline Support Workers providing services to children with CSEA experiences in seven countries, considering trends

Background Currently, some trauma-informed education practices use “ACE scores,” a number that represents the sum of endorsed items from a survey derived from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study in 1998. We caution that the survey provides limited information within education, and such scores have limited utility for designing and delivering individualized intervention to support students

Background To date, several studies have shown that parenting stress, a kind of role strain, is related to child maltreatment. However, few studies have examined how the effects of crises, such as negative pandemic-related events on the household, may be related to parenting stress and maltreatment-related behavior. Objective This study examines the impact of negative Covid-related events on parenting

Background Exposure to environmental risk factors increases the negative impact maltreatment has on children's development. Sleep ecology (i.e., sleep hygiene and home sleeping conditions) can be one of these factors. Poor sleep hygiene and suboptimal home sleeping conditions can alter sleep characteristics, which in turn, may lead to behavior problems (BPs), highly prevalent in maltreated preschoolers

Background Considerable research has established the harmful impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's and adolescents' health and well-being. However, the literature has been constrained by studies using less representative samples, hindering the generalization of the findings. Objective This study aimed to investigate the associations of employment disruption and school closures during the pandemic

Background Rates of child maltreatment (CM) obtained from electronic health records are much lower than national child welfare prevalence rates indicate. There is a need to understand how CM is documented to improve reporting and surveillance. Objectives To examine whether using natural language processing (NLP) in outpatient chart notes can identify cases of CM not documented by ICD diagnosis code

Background Most studies on the effect of intimate partner violence (IPV) do not distinguish between the effects of the different types of IPVs on the various aspects of child development. Objective This study explores the effect of multiple dimensions of IPV, specifically physical violence, controlling behavior, and emotional abuse, on children's physical and cognitive development. Participants and

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic was a stressful period. Lockdowns may have added to parental difficulty leading to an increase in violence. This study aimed to compare the monthly incidence of high suspicion of child physical abuse before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material We have retrospectively reviewed imaging examinations of children having a skeletal X-ray examination in six university

Objective We examined the prevalence of different types of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in Lithuania focusing on how these experiences were related to victim's age and relationship to the perpetrator. Methods The participants came from a representative household survey of youth aged 18–29 and the sample consisted of 2000 participants (47.7 % women) with a mean age of 23.9 years (SD = 3.6). The ISPCAN

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have long been associated with health risk behaviors, but they are poorly studied in Brazilian university students. Objective To estimate the prevalence of ACEs and investigate their association with sociodemographic data, health risk factors and self-related health in a sample of university students. Participants and setting A cross-sectional study conducted

Abstract not available

Background Through Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), the gold standard in children's trauma treatment, caregivers participate in sessions parallel to the child. However, much of the research examining the impact of this caregiver involvement has focused on biological or relative caregivers, despite the high prevalence of trauma and trauma symptoms among youth in foster care and

Background Child welfare services in Canada are guided by a dual mandate: to protect children from imminent harm and to promote their optimal development and well-being. To understand how child welfare systems respond to this dual mandate, Trocmé et al. (2014) developed a taxonomy to classify child welfare investigations as either being related to urgent protection or chronic needs. Objective To extend

Background The migration of offenses against children to the online environment requires a revised understanding of how episode dynamics aggravate the harm. Objective To assess the contribution of various online offense episode elements to the overall negative emotional impact. Participants and settings The sample comprised 2639 IPSOS KnowledgePanel members aged 18 to 28, 1215 of whom reported episodes

Background Occupation is a known determinant of worker physical and behavioral health risk, yet most previous studies have focused on unemployment, underemployment, and job satisfaction to understand child maltreatment risk. Objective This county-level study (n = 278) investigated the association between occupation and child maltreatment rates and community well-being in California, Colorado, Minnesota

Background Exposure to corporal punishment during childhood is associated with suicidal behaviors during adolescence. To date, the protective effects of national policies governing the use of corporal punishment have rarely been studied for adolescent suicide outcomes. Objective To investigate contemporaneous and lagged associations between national legislation banning corporal punishment and adolescent

Background Exposure to child maltreatment creates risk for adverse social, health, and economic outcomes across generations. The socioecological model posits the well-being of individuals, including children and youth, is shaped by the larger systems they exist in. Employing state-level policies to position school settings to effectively identify and intervene in instances of child maltreatment is

Background Few studies have investigated whether Child Protective Services (CPS) contact influences child wellbeing, independent of underlying maltreatment and not considered as a proxy for such maltreatment. Objective The present study estimates the association between CPS contact and child delinquency, education, substance use, and mental health and development. Participants and setting The study

Background Considerable concern is raised as to whether the pandemic has led to an increase in violence and sexual abuse against children. Objective The present study objective is to provide rates of violence and sexual abuse against adolescents the year before the pandemic compared to one year into the pandemic. Participants and setting Two samples of Norwegian 12–16-year-olds were approached. A representative

Background While risk factors have been identified among infants and young children, less is known about child maltreatment fatalities among older children. Objectives To describe the social and demographic characteristics of children where abuse or neglect was determined to cause or contribute to their death, compare characteristics and circumstances of the deaths by cause and manner of death and

Background Sexual abuse is a global concern among children with intellectual disabilities. Sexual abuse is frequent and long-lasting when the victim is a child with an intellectual disability. Moreover, the rate of sexual abuse is two to eight times the rate in the general population. Objective This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of sexual abuse and resistance ability among children with

Background Sexual Grooming is the deceptive process wherein a would-be perpetrator prepares a child for sexual abuse (CSA) and prevents disclosure and detection. It is often difficult to detect sexual grooming because some grooming behaviors resemble normal adult-child interactions. To prevent CSA, it is vital to identify sexual grooming behaviors that can be considered “red flag” behaviors. Objective

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of children and families, created additional stressors, and increased risks for maltreatment. The pandemic has changed the way child welfare agencies operate, requiring changes to policies and practice. Minimal research has considered the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child welfare workers wellbeing and job satisfaction. Objective This mixed-methods

Background Extensive research supports the existence of a “cycle of violence” that links exposure to parental violence during childhood (i.e., witnessing interparental violence and child maltreatment) with intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. However, there is still a need to explore the mechanisms through which early exposure to parental violence may foster IPV perpetration during adulthood

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are typically assessed within two subscales: child maltreatment (CM) and household dysfunction (HD). More research is needed about how the CM and HD subscales differentially contribute to adult posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), accounting for additional adversities. Objective, participants, and setting In a sample of 137 pregnant women exposed to

Background International Classification of Diseases (ICD) billing codes are not well-suited to estimate physical abuse prevalence among hospitalized patients and may be even less accurate in emergency departments (EDs). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently published a child abuse and neglect syndromic surveillance definition to more accurately examine national abuse trends

Background The association between children's exposure to family violence and poor academic outcomes is well-established. Less is known about how exposure to violence in the school context, i.e., by teachers and by peers, affects academic functioning. Moreover, the role of children's mental health problems in this link has hardly been examined. Objectives We examined direct and indirect associations

Background Childhood abuse has been increasingly recognized as a risk factor for eating disorder symptoms. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that childhood abuse may lead to identification with the aggressor, an automatic defensive process, to survive the abuse. Although it has been clinically implied, the role of identification with the aggressor as a potential mechanism underlying the relation

Background Estimates on sexual violence (SV) among adolescents are rarely disaggregated by key indicators. Objective We examine the independent effects of sex, age, HIV status and mode of HIV acquisition on the exposure to SV using generalised estimating equations models and proportional hazard model. Participant and setting Data from a 4-year prospective cohort study of 1447 adolescents (ages 10–19

Background The effects of COVID-19 pandemic on children have been immense. Objective In this commentary, we argue for the need to utilize research-practice-policy partnerships to address the issue of educator burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress. Participants and setting Education systems have the potential to be the site of public health interventions in helping to identify and address the needs

Background The experience of homelessness and child protection involvement pose risks to children's school success. Elucidating processes by which these interrelated systems affect child well-being is important for guiding policy and practice. Objective This study examines the temporal relation between emergency shelter or transitional housing use and child protection involvement among school-aged

Background The role of alcohol use in the etiology of abusive and neglectful parenting is significant. We examined how the Sacramento Neighborhood Alcohol Prevention Project (SNAPP) may have reduced rates of substantiated child maltreatment, entries into foster care, and entries into foster care where alcohol use was a factor. Participants and setting The study sample is 326 Census block groups: 21

Background Child maltreatment is a potent risk factor for depression across the life course, with maltreatment and depression demonstrated to disproportionately impact youth of color. Despite evidence for mechanisms (e.g., social information processing; SIP) accounting for the effects of maltreatment on youth broadly, pathways of risk for depression among maltreated youth of color specifically remain

Background Many youth in out-of-home care (OOHC) have experienced victimization in their lifetime making them vulnerable to mental health problems and further victimization. However, little is known about mechanisms behind this continuing victimization, e.g. in the form of bullying victimization, and about possible mediating and moderating factors. Objective This study examined the association between