Please join us for the upcoming LTRS featuring: Stacey C. Williams, Ph.D., M.P.H. Postdoctoral Research Fellow Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Thursday, 4/19 12:15-1:45 PM ROOM: 4E26 of SSW 525 W. Redwood Street Pizza & refreshments will be provided RSVP by 4/17 to jcanapp@ssw.umaryland.edu NEIGHBORHOOD STRUCTURE, PROCESSES, AND SPATIAL VARIATION IN THE RATE OF CHILD WELFARE INVESTIGATION - A POPULATION HEALTH PERSPECTIVE In the United States, the child welfare system serves a vulnerable population of children with extensive health needs. With momentum building for place-based interventions to promote community health, population-level evidence is needed to identify critical elements of interventions and inform potential collaboration across service sectors. Through a systematic review of small-area ecological research on neighborhood effects, we framed the literature on neighborhood context and child welfare contact through a population health lens. Four constructs describing the neighborhood structure (economic disadvantage, percent of the population from racial/ethnic minority group, social disadvantage, and residential instability) and two constructs describing neighborhood processes (alcohol access, drug arrests) were positively associated with the rate of child welfare contact in multiple studies. We identified evidence on neighborhood processes as a priority for future research and provide guidance for improving study design.
In Baltimore City, we examined the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage, violence,
drug and alcohol activity, and the rate of child welfare investigation. While both the violence
index and drug and alcohol index were strongly associated with the outcome in bivariate
analysis, only violence was associated with a significant increase in the rate of child welfare
investigation in the multivariable regression analysis. Applying concepts from spatial
epidemiology, several important methodological improvements were illustrated, including person
years of observation, age-adjusted rates, and the use of negative binomial regression models.
Focusing child maltreatment prevention interventions in areas with the greatest density of child
welfare contact is an avenue by which interventions can reduce both the incidence of child
maltreatment and the rate of child welfare involvement. Considering the high rate of child
welfare contract in Baltimore City, the need to reduce the burden on the child welfare system,
and growing attention for the need to prevent child maltreatment in high risk neighborhoods,
child welfare services may benefit from further coordinating their prevention efforts with other
public sectors serving children and youth at risk of maltreatment. Collaborative efforts between
hospitals, public service sectors, and community-based resources are likely to be both effective and efficient methods for targeting resources to the most vulnerable children and families in the city.