Developmental Status and Early Intervention Service Needs of Maltreated Children. Final Report

摘要

Children younger than three years of age are the most likely of all children to become involved with child welfare services (Wulczyn, Barth, Yuan, Harden, & Landsverk, 2005). Those with medical or developmental conditions experience an even higher level of involvement, including more removals from parental care and longer stays in foster care (Rosenberg & Robinson, 2004). In 2003, the Federal government amended the Child Abuse and Prevention Treatment Act (CAPTA) to require that infants and toddlers who are substantiated for child maltreatment be referred to early intervention services funded under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The CAPTA requires each state to develop provisions and procedures for referral of a child under the age of three who is involved in a substantiated case of child abuse or neglect to early intervention services funded under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (section 106(b)(2)(A)(xxi)) (CAPTA, 2003). While there is some general agreement that children who experience child abuse/neglect may experience a range of developmental delays across developmental domains, little is known about the true extent of developmental problems of children substantiated for abuse/neglect, and those subsequently removed from parental custody and placed in an alternative living environment. This dearth of information is in part due to the inconsistencies in child welfare practice across jurisdictions; variability in state and jurisdictional eligibility criteria for infants and toddlers for Part C services (Shackelford, 2006); differential policies, procedures, and practice competencies of public child welfare workers; and the differential availability of resources to serve children once identified. Further complicating the issue is the requirement under Part C that states must provide services to children who meet the state criterion for eligibility, but states may also choose to serve children who are at risk of having substantial developmental delays if early intervention services are not provided. Only five states (CA, HI, MA, NM, & WV) currently serve such at risk children.