Masters Thesis

Effects of child and family team meetings on child abuse recidivism

Child abuse is a social issue that has negatively impacted children in communities across the world arguably since the dawn of human civilization. Historically, Child Protective Services agencies across the country have done a poor job of involving families in the child welfare decision making process (Burford, 2011). In 2011, the Department of Children and Family Services, along with the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Probation, implemented Los Angeles County's Shared Core Practice Model. Los Angeles County's Shared Core Practice Model takes a humanistic strength-based approach to working with families and is meant to guide the everyday practice of social workers. One of the programs created under the Los Angeles County's Shared Core Practice Model initiative, which will be the focus program of this research proposal, is the Child and Family Team Meetings program. Child and Family Team Meetings are meetings in which a Children's Social Worker meets with parents or caregivers and their natural supports in order to mitigate child safety concerns and prevent future child abuse by giving families a voice and choice in the child welfare decision making process, educating families on child safety and having families lean on their strengths and natural supports. This research proposal seeks to answer whether Child and Family Team Meetings prevent or reduce child abuse recidivism and whether or not a child's age factors into their risk of being abused in the future. This three-year program evaluation will use a quantitative quasi-experimental comparison group research design. A mixed methods approach will be used to collect data for the program evaluation. The program evaluation will use both questionnaires and data gathered from the Child Welfare System / Case Management System database in order to determine if there is any statistically significant difference regarding the number of substantiated child abuse allegations between families that participate in a Child and Family Team Meeting versus families that do not participate in a Child and Family Team Meeting and whether or not a child's age factors into their risk of being abused in the future. It will cost approximately thirteen million eight hundred thousand dollars to cover program evaluation costs such as vetting, salaries, training, benefits, overtime, mileage reimbursement for travel and supplies.

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