Maiter, S. & Stalker, C. (2011). South Asian immigrants' experience of child protection services: Are we recognizing strengths and resilience? Child and Family Social Work, 16(2), 138-148.
Ethno-racial minority families who are involved with the child welfare system face particular challenges including differences in child rearing practices, cultures, values and the potential of biases, all of which may not address their particular needs as caregivers. Caregivers who self-identify as South Asian were invited to participate in this qualitative study. During participant interviews (n=20) areas of exploration included but were not limited to: migration history, racial diversity, parent-child interactions, child welfare intervention, participants’ view of services, and recommended services. Analysis of interviews with participants revealed several themes. Participants expressed disappointment, as they had an understanding that the child welfare system was a service and support agency, but their interactions with the system lead them to believe the purpose is primarily investigative. Families felt further disappointment with the lack of social supports experienced in their country of origin. Systemic issues faced by participants include high worker turnover, frequent missed and rescheduled appointments resulting in confusion and interruption in service. Some participants felt that it was a good lesson learned that helping professionals should not be trusted. Authors suggest further examination of policies and programs in order to assess structural issues within organizations that pose barriers to best practices.
McConnell, D., Feldman, M., Aunos, M., & Prasad, N. (2011). Parental cognitive impairment and child maltreatment in Canada. Child Abuse & Neglect, 35, 621-632.
Extant literature lacks research on prevalence and outcomes for children of parents with cognitive impairments who are involved with the child welfare system. This study is a secondary analysis of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) 2003 data, which has been utilized to explore the relationship between caregiver cognitive impairment and case outcomes. Parental cognitive impairment was noted in over 10% of sampled cases that were opened for child maltreatment investigation in Canada in 2003. Logistic regression results indicate that all else being equal (i.e., child characteristics, case characteristics, indicators of psychosocial risk) parental cognitive impairment substantially increased the odds of a case remaining open for ongoing protective services. Additionally, parental cognitive impairment remains a statistically significant predictor of a court application in the child welfare process. Authors suggest strategies to remove structural barriers, improve socio-economic status, and social support with increase the life chances of these children.
Tanaka, M., Wekerle, C., Leung, E., Waechter, R., Gonzalez, A., Jamieson, E., & MacMillan, H. (2012). Preliminary Evaluation of the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire Short Form. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(10), 1-12.
Albeit there have been advances in child maltreatment research and theory, accurate measurement of exposure to child maltreatment is not well understood. This article presents an evaluation of the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire (CEVQ) and the short form version (CEVQ-SF). The CEVQ was developed for youth aged 12 to 18 years and asks about victimization experiences. The CEVQ utilizes 18 behaviourally based questions to increase validity. The areas of measurement are: bullying; physical punishment, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse; and exposure to violence. There are an additional 64 questions about developmental stages of occurrence of abuse, perpetrators, and help-seeking behaviours. Participants include 369 youth from the Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) longitudinal study, including the retest of 99 participants. Results indicate that the CEVQ long and short forms had moderate to good reliability in measuring physical abuse, and sexual abuse. Authors suggest the use of the CEVQ-SF in child welfare given the comparable psychometric properties to the long form and to reduce respondent burden.
Canadian Research in Brief: 33rd Edition (January 2013)
Date Published