Child Protective Services Found Ineffective

Why nutritional child abuse continues without relief for the kids.

Investigations by Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies following suspected episodes of child abuse were seldom followed by improvements in household risk factors for future abuse -- casting doubt on the agencies' effectiveness, researchers said.

Among 595 households followed in a longitudinal study of risk factors for child abuse, those subjected to CPS investigations showed few major differences afterward in abuse risks that existed before the inspection, compared with households that had not been assessed, according to Kristine A. Campbell, MD, MSc, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues.

Even in those households where child abuse was substantiated, interviews afterward indicated that "modifiable risk factors" -- such as social support, family functioning, and child behavioral problems -- remained largely unchanged, the researchers reported in the October issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

"Our finding that CPS investigation is not associated with improvements in common, modifiable risk factors suggests that we may be missing an opportunity for secondary prevention," Campbell and colleagues concluded. They noted that CPS investigations provide "unique access into high-risk households" and an opportunity for interventions that "reduce repeat maltreatment and improve outcomes."

More ineffectiveness in protecting our children from parental abuse.

Terrible.