Caregiver Feedback on Services in Children's Advocacy Centers: How Does it Differ by Caregiver Language and Child Race-Ethnicity, Gender and Age?

This study analyzed caregiver feedback regarding referrals, service use, and wanting additional services using a standardized survey completed by 1,585 caregivers at 260 Children's Advocacy Centers. Most caregivers were referred to counseling or support services for their child (84%). Caregivers who completed the survey in Spanish were significantly more likely to receive referral information for themselves, have children use the services, use the services themselves, report being on waiting lists, want additional services for their child, and believe staff could have done something additional compared to caregivers who completed it in English.

Transforming learning for adult protective services caseworker certification training: program evaluation of simulation training.

This study assesses the first statewide program to provide simulation training conducted via videoconference to all new caseworkers. The simulation training in Illinois was conducted at a mock house. A mock family played by standardized clients is physically present, and trainees participate remotely.

Commentary: The Legal System Response to Child Maltreatment.

Legal actions are perhaps the most powerful responses to child maltreatment. Criminal and child protection investigation and forensic interviewing can provide the evidence needed to support a child victim's disclosure. Prosecution of child maltreatment can hold perpetrators accountable.

The Relationship of DNA Evidence to Prosecution Outcomes in Sexual Assault Cases.

This study examined the relationship between DNA evidence and outcomes of prosecution of sexual assault. Researchers coded data from prosecutor and crime laboratory files for sexual assault cases referred to prosecutors between 2005 and 2011 in a metropolitan jurisdiction in the northeastern United States. Cases with a DNA match were significantly more likely to move forward and result in conviction, even with other predictor variables statistically controlled.

Emergency Department Admissions for Child Sexual Abuse in the United States From 2010 to 2016.

This study uses data from the US Nationwide Emergency Department Sample and the US Census Bureau to examine patterns and characteristics among children admitted to the emergency department for sexual abuse from 2010 to 2016.

Forensic medical results and law enforcement actions following sexual assault: A comparison of child, adolescent and adult cases.

Background: In sexual assault cases, little research has examined differences in forensic medical findings and law enforcement response by victim age across the entire age range.

Objective: This study addressed this gap by comparing four victim age groups: adults, adolescents over the age of consent, adolescents under the age of consent, and children under 12.

Participants And Setting: Cases were randomly sampled from a statewide database of medical reports on sexual assault examinations conducted in hospital emergency departments, including only cases reported to law enforcement (N = 563).

Families' Experience of Pediatric Onset Multiple Sclerosis.

This study interviewed parents to understand families' experience with pediatric onset multiple sclerosis (POMS), which make up 2.7% to 10.5% of all MS cases.

Prosecutors' Perspectives on Biological Evidence and Injury Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases.

Little prior research has explored how prosecutors perceive and utilize biological and injury evidences in sexual assault cases. In this qualitative study, semistructured interviews were conducted with assistant district attorneys (ADAs) working in an urban district attorney's office in the northeastern United States. ADAs were asked to describe how biological and injury evidences could be probative and their strategies for using this evidence.

FOOD NEGLECT AND INFANT DEVELOPMENT.

The impact of food insecurity on child development in the general U.S. population is well-established, yet little is known about the harm of food neglect relative to other types of maltreatment.

Biological Evidence in Adult and Adolescent Sexual Assault Cases: Timing and Relationship to Arrest.

This study examined the timing of the crime laboratory report relative to arrests in sexual assault cases and explored the relationship between biological evidence and arrest in those cases in which the crime laboratory report came first and thus could have influenced the arrest decision. A random sample ( = 528) of cases that occurred between 2008 and 2010 and included a report to police was drawn from a Massachusetts statewide database of medical reports on sexual assault cases. Data from medical providers were merged with data abstracted from crime laboratory reports and with data requested from police departments.

Qualitative Analysis of Prosecutors' Perspectives on Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and the Criminal Justice Response to Sexual Assault.

Objective: The aim of this study was to understand prosecutors' perspectives on the contribution of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) to evidence collection and trials in sexual assault cases.

Background: Several studies have suggested that a sexual assault case is more likely to progress in the criminal justice system when a SANE conducts the forensic medical examination. However, little is known about how prosecutors perceive SANEs and what they value about SANEs versus other medical professionals.

The practice of prosecuting child maltreatment: Results of an online survey of prosecutors.

Despite efforts by advocates, practitioners, and legislators to alleviate the burden on child maltreatment victims in the criminal justice system, many challenges remain for prosecutors as they seek to hold offenders accountable while minimizing the emotional impact on children. More than 200 state and local prosecutors in 37 states responded to an online survey to share their perspectives on current challenges, procedures to support children in the adjudication process, and the impact of the U.S.

Criminal investigations in child protective services cases: an empirical analysis.

This study analyzed the frequency and correlates of criminal investigation of child maltreatment in cases investigated by child protective service (CPS), using national probability data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Criminal investigations were conducted in slightly more than 25% of cases. Communities varied substantially in percentage criminally investigated.

The seven pillars of quality care in a statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner program.

This article describes a systematic approach used by a statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner program to ensure the quality of forensic medical examinations it provides in child sexual abuse investigations. Seven strategies for enhancing quality are described: (a) hiring experienced professionals, (b) effective training, (c) comprehensive protocols, (d) ample support for pediatric sexual assault nurses, (e) management oversight, (f) a clinical coordinator to provide ongoing training and technical assistance, and (g) a quality assurance process in which expert child abuse pediatricians review each statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examination. To show the evolution of quality care over time, the program's experience from 2004 to 2010 is reviewed, and quality assurance data are analyzed.

Identifying the substance abuse treatment needs of caregivers involved with child welfare.

Parental substance use significantly increases risk of child maltreatment, but is often under-identified by child protective services. This study examined how agency use of standardized substance use assessments and child welfare investigative caseworker education, experience, and caseload affected caseworkers' identification of parental substance abuse treatment needs. Data are from a national probability sample of permanent, primary caregivers involved with child protective services whose children initially remained at home and whose confidential responses on two validated instruments indicated harmful substance use or dependence.

Child welfare policy and practice on children's exposure to domestic violence.

Objectives: This article reviews research, policy and programming in Australia, Canada and the US on the child welfare response to EDV.

Method: The review draws on searches of standard research databases, interviews with researchers and practitioners, and the authors' own research.

Results: Although EDV is underreported, across studies 7% to 23% of youths in general population surveys experienced EDV, 36-39% of youth in DV cases have witnessed the violence, and 45-46% of primary caregivers in child maltreatment investigations have experienced DV.

Mental health professionals in children's advocacy centers: is there role conflict?

Two recent chapters in professional books have criticized children's advocacy centers for creating role conflict for mental health professionals because of their work with criminal justice and child protection professionals in children's advocacy centers as part of a coordinated response to child abuse. This article argues that these critiques misunderstand children's advocacy center practice and overestimate the risk of role conflict. Children's advocacy center standards set a boundary between forensic interviewing and therapy, which in most children's advocacy centers are done by separate professionals and never by the same professional for a given child.

Do parents blame or doubt their child more when sexually abused by adolescents versus adults?

Although the importance of parental support for child sexual abuse victims is well documented, the nature of parental support for victims sexually abused by adolescents is less understood. In this exploratory study, we examine whether parents differ in their levels of blame or doubt for their child when sexually abused by adolescents versus adults. Data included 161 reports of child sexual abuse.

The relationship of child functioning to parental physical assault: linear and curvilinear models.

Previous research suggests a curvilinear relationship between child disability and physical abuse, with children with mild impairments at greater risk than both children with severe impairments and superior functioning. Using a national probability sample of families investigated for maltreatment (N = 1675), this study tested for both linear and curvilinear relationships of child functioning to parental physical assault. Linear relationships were found between problem behaviors and minor and severe assault, and between social skills and minor assault: the more impaired the level of child functioning, the greater the risk.

Suspect confession of child sexual abuse to investigators.

Increasing the number of suspects who give true confessions of sexual abuse serves justice and reduces the burden of the criminal justice process on child victims. With data from four communities, this study examined confession rates and predictors of confession of child sexual abuse over the course of criminal investigations (final N = 282). Overall, 30% of suspects confessed partially or fully to the crime.

Nonoffending caregiver and youth experiences with child sexual abuse investigations.

Qualitative responses by caregivers (n = 203) and youth (aged 8 and older; n = 65) about their experiences with sexual abuse investigations were analyzed in conjunction with quantitative ratings of satisfaction. Respondents described mostly high levels of satisfaction, although dissatisfaction was reported with some key aspects of investigations. The features cited as worse than expected by caregivers were the investigators' commitment to prosecuting the alleged offender and the absence of clear and regular communication about the status of the case.

Families who begin versus decline therapy for children who are sexually abused.

Objective: To identify child characteristics, factors related to the therapy referral, and caregivers' psychological and social variables that predict sexually abused children's beginning therapy following a therapy referral.

Method: Investigators abstracted data from case records of 101 families whose children were referred to a Children's Advocacy Center for therapy because of sexual abuse. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a subsample of 45 caregivers 2-3 months after the referral to therapy.

Telling interviewers about sexual abuse: predictors of child disclosure at forensic interviews.

This study aims to identify characteristics that predict full disclosure by victims of sexual abuse during a forensic interview. Data came from agency files for 987 cases of sexual abuse between December 2001 and December 2003 from Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) and comparison communities within four U.S.