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Child Maltreatment in Families Receiving Mandatory Versus Voluntary Child Protection Support: A Matched Cohort Study.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Child Maltreatment in Families Receiving Mandatory Versus Voluntary Child Protection Support: A Matched Cohort Study.
Authors: Doelman, Eline H. J., Luijk, Maartje P. C. M., van der Horst, Frank C. P., Steketee, Majone J.
Source: Child & Family Social Work; Nov2025, Vol. 30 Issue 4, p683-696, 14p
Subject Terms: PREVENTION of child abuse, CHILD welfare, EVALUATION of human services programs, RESEARCH evaluation, CHILDREN'S accident prevention, LONGITUDINAL method, RESEARCH methodology, RESEARCH, FAMILY support, SOCIAL support, DATA analysis software, COMPARATIVE studies, REGRESSION analysis
Abstract: Child safety is an important outcome of child protection services (CPSs); however, this is often assessed in terms of official registries (e.g., rereports). Little empirical evidence is available about how the frequency of child maltreatment changes during CPS intervention by using self‐report measures. The present study evaluates the frequency of child maltreatment experienced by children receiving mandatory child protection support compared to carefully matched children receiving voluntary child protection support. The current study is part of an ongoing Dutch longitudinal study on family violence consisting of several cohorts with similar designs. Both parents and children reported on the frequency of child maltreatment using validated questionnaires at two timepoints, 12 months apart. To facilitate careful comparison, both groups were matched using propensity scores based on background variables, resulting in two groups of N = 178 children. GLMM analyses showed a significant decrease in the mean number of child maltreatment incidents over time in the total group. However, this decrease did not differ for children receiving mandatory and voluntary child protection support. The findings indicate that, despite possible motivational challenges in the mandatory group, mandatory child protection support elicits comparable results as voluntary support. Implications for further research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Complementary Index
Description
Abstract:Child safety is an important outcome of child protection services (CPSs); however, this is often assessed in terms of official registries (e.g., rereports). Little empirical evidence is available about how the frequency of child maltreatment changes during CPS intervention by using self‐report measures. The present study evaluates the frequency of child maltreatment experienced by children receiving mandatory child protection support compared to carefully matched children receiving voluntary child protection support. The current study is part of an ongoing Dutch longitudinal study on family violence consisting of several cohorts with similar designs. Both parents and children reported on the frequency of child maltreatment using validated questionnaires at two timepoints, 12 months apart. To facilitate careful comparison, both groups were matched using propensity scores based on background variables, resulting in two groups of N = 178 children. GLMM analyses showed a significant decrease in the mean number of child maltreatment incidents over time in the total group. However, this decrease did not differ for children receiving mandatory and voluntary child protection support. The findings indicate that, despite possible motivational challenges in the mandatory group, mandatory child protection support elicits comparable results as voluntary support. Implications for further research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:13567500
DOI:10.1111/cfs.13209