Maltreatment following reunification: Predictors of subsequent Child Protective Services contact after children return home

ObjectivesThis study examined risk of maltreatment among children exiting foster care using a statewide sample of children reunified between 2001 and 2004 in Rhode Island. The objectives were: (1) to compare rates of maltreatment following parental reunification for youth in care as a result of maltreatment with those in care for other reasons; and (2) to assess the effects of child, family, and case characteristics on rates of re-maltreatment among children placed in foster care due to maltreatment.MethodA longitudinal dataset of all reunified cases was matched with state records of substantiated Child Protective Service (CPS) investigations. Two Cox proportional hazards models were tested. The first model compared rates of subsequent maltreatment for two groups: children in foster care as a result of maltreatment, and those in care for other reasons. The second model investigated the effects of child, family, and case characteristics on re-maltreatment rates for those in care as a result of maltreatment.ResultsChildren in foster care due to maltreatment were significantly more likely to be maltreated following reunification. Among children in foster care due to maltreatment, factors that raised risk for re-maltreatment included a previous foster care placement, exiting care from a non-relative foster home, and removal due to neglect. Older adolescents had lower rates of re-maltreatment than infants. Child neglect was the primary type of recurrent maltreatment that occurred following reunification.ConclusionsSupports are needed for families about to be reunified, particularly when the removal was prompted by incidents of abuse or neglect. Incidents of neglect are particularly likely and appropriate services should specifically target factors contributing to neglect. Cases involving youth with a history of repeated foster care placement or in which non-relative placements are utilized may need additional supports.Practice implicationsThis study suggests that services should be developed to minimize the risk for recurrent maltreatment following reunification. Services would be most useful for high-risk cases prior to reunification and during the first year following reunification. Understanding the risks associated with maltreatment will help guide development of appropriate interventions.     

The Effects of Inattentive Responding on Construct Validity Evidence When Measuring Social–Emotional Learning Competencies

Self‐report inventories are commonly administered to measure social‐emotional learning competencies related to college and career readiness. Inattentive responding can negatively impact the validity of interpreting individual results and the accuracy of construct validity evidence. This study applied nine methods of detecting insufficient effort responding (IER) to a social‐emotional learning assessment. Individual methods identified between 0.9% and 20.3% of respondents as potentially exhibiting IER. Removing flagged respondents from the data resulted in negligible or small improvements in criterion‐related validity, coefficient alpha, concurrent validity, and confirmatory factor analysis model‐data fit. Implications for future validity studies and the operational use of IER detection for social–emotional learning assessments are discussed.