Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases

Aims: This paper examined whether or not: (a) care-giver 'alcohol abuse' is associated with recurrent child maltreatment; (b) other 'risk factors' affect this relationship; and (c) which of alcohol abuse or other drug abuse plays a stronger role. It also examined (d) how children...

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Main Authors: Laslett, Anne-Marie, Room, R., Dietze, P., Ferris, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17674
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author Laslett, Anne-Marie
Room, R.
Dietze, P.
Ferris, J.
author_facet Laslett, Anne-Marie
Room, R.
Dietze, P.
Ferris, J.
author_sort Laslett, Anne-Marie
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Aims: This paper examined whether or not: (a) care-giver 'alcohol abuse' is associated with recurrent child maltreatment; (b) other 'risk factors' affect this relationship; and (c) which of alcohol abuse or other drug abuse plays a stronger role. It also examined (d) how children and families where alcohol-related child abuse was identified were managed by child protection services (CPS) in Victoria, Australia. Design, setting and participants: Using anonymized data from Victorian CPS, repeat cases were examined involving 29455 children identified between 2001 and 2005. Measurements: Carer alcohol abuse, other drug abuse, mental ill-health, carer experience of abuse as a child, child age and gender, family type, socio-economic variables and level of child protection service intervention as recorded in the CPS electronic database were examined as risk factors for recurrence, using bivariate and multivariate techniques. Findings: Almost one-quarter of children in CPS experienced a recurrent incident of child maltreatment in a 5-year period. Where carer alcohol abuse was identified children were significantly more likely to experience multiple incidents compared with children where this was not identified (P<0.001), as were children where other family risk factors (including markers of socio-economic disadvantage) were identified. The majority of children whose carers were identified with alcohol abuse experienced either repeat incidents or interventions (84%), although almost three-quarters of these children were managed without resort to the most serious outcome, involving court orders. Conclusions: Alcohol and drug abuse in carers are important risk-factors for recurrent child maltreatment after accounting for other known risk factors; the increased risk appears to be similar between alcohol and drug abuse.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-176742018-11-29T03:38:05Z Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases Laslett, Anne-Marie Room, R. Dietze, P. Ferris, J. Aims: This paper examined whether or not: (a) care-giver 'alcohol abuse' is associated with recurrent child maltreatment; (b) other 'risk factors' affect this relationship; and (c) which of alcohol abuse or other drug abuse plays a stronger role. It also examined (d) how children and families where alcohol-related child abuse was identified were managed by child protection services (CPS) in Victoria, Australia. Design, setting and participants: Using anonymized data from Victorian CPS, repeat cases were examined involving 29455 children identified between 2001 and 2005. Measurements: Carer alcohol abuse, other drug abuse, mental ill-health, carer experience of abuse as a child, child age and gender, family type, socio-economic variables and level of child protection service intervention as recorded in the CPS electronic database were examined as risk factors for recurrence, using bivariate and multivariate techniques. Findings: Almost one-quarter of children in CPS experienced a recurrent incident of child maltreatment in a 5-year period. Where carer alcohol abuse was identified children were significantly more likely to experience multiple incidents compared with children where this was not identified (P<0.001), as were children where other family risk factors (including markers of socio-economic disadvantage) were identified. The majority of children whose carers were identified with alcohol abuse experienced either repeat incidents or interventions (84%), although almost three-quarters of these children were managed without resort to the most serious outcome, involving court orders. Conclusions: Alcohol and drug abuse in carers are important risk-factors for recurrent child maltreatment after accounting for other known risk factors; the increased risk appears to be similar between alcohol and drug abuse. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17674 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03917.x Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. fulltext
spellingShingle Laslett, Anne-Marie
Room, R.
Dietze, P.
Ferris, J.
Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases
title Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases
title_full Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases
title_fullStr Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases
title_full_unstemmed Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases
title_short Alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases
title_sort alcohol's involvement in recurrent child abuse and neglect cases
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17674