Childcare Subsidy Employment and Copayment Requirements and Child Maltreatment.

Economic support programs for low-income families may play an important role in preventing child abuse and neglect. In the United States, childcare subsidies are provided to low-income families who meet certain requirements to offset the high cost of childcare. States have flexibility in setting many policies related to the provision of childcare subsidies, which results in a great deal of variation in how the programs operate between states. One policy dimension on which states vary is the number of employment hours required to receive childcare subsidies. A small body of work has begun to investigate the ways in which these state policy variations might relate to child maltreatment. Using 11 years of administrative data from the United States, the current study sought to estimate the relationship between two sources of variation in childcare subsidy policies: employment requirements and copayment size; and child neglect, physical abuse, and emotional abuse substantiations. The study found a nuanced relationship between required employment and neglect substantiations. Specifically, requiring some level of work was not associated with neglect substantiations, but requiring 30 hours of employment was associated with higher rates. The study did not find a relationship between copayment size and maltreatment substantiations.

Material hardship in the postpartum year: Links to child maltreatment.

BACKGROUND: Millions of mothers with young children in the U.S. struggle to afford basic needs. Material hardships such as inadequate food, housing, and medical care increase risk for child maltreatment as mothers face heightened physical and emotional strain. OBJECTIVE: The present study applied a person-centered approach to understand unique subtypes of material hardship experienced by at-risk mothers in the postpartum year, and links from hardship subtypes to subsequent child maltreatment. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample included at-risk mothers who gave birth in one of 20 large American cities 1998-2000 and retained custody of their children at age 1 and 3 (N = 3966). METHOD: Latent class analysis (LCA) identified subtypes of material hardship; mean maltreatment scores were estimated across classes. RESULTS: LCA identified four hardship subtypes with differential risks for maltreatment. Compared to "Stable" mothers, "Cost-Burdened" mothers - who displayed high levels of missed rent and utility payments - were significantly more likely to psychological abuse (χ2 = 5.04, p < 0.05) or neglect (χ2 = 4.46, p < 0.05) their children. "Severely Housing Insecure Mothers" - characterized by elevated rates of doubling up, eviction, and homelessness - were significantly more likely to engage in physical assault (χ2 = 16.25, p < 0.001), psychological aggression (χ2 = 11.15, p < 0.01), and neglect (χ2 = 17.55, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Difficulty maintaining stable and affordable housing is associated with elevated risk of child maltreatment. Efforts to prevent child maltreatment must incorporate access to housing screening and supports, particularly among families with infants.