Child maltreatment can affect multiple children in a family, yet its occurrence and chronicity has been often assessed by focusing on a single child. Although this approach provides valuable insights, considering the experiences of all children in a family may provide a more complete understanding of maltreatment dynamics. Using linked birth and child protection system (CPS) records from California, we analyzed 20 years of data on 194,514 first-time mothers to document the prevalence, timing, and chronicity of maternal CPS reporting across multiple children. Mothers were categorized by the number of live childbirths: one (25.7%), two (36.2%), three (20.9%), and four or more (17.2%). Overall, 33.0% of mothers were reported to CPS, increasing from 18.5% for mothers with one child to 63.1% for those with four or more children. For mothers with two or more children, more than 70% experienced an initial CPS report only after the second child’s birth. Our findings have implications for understanding the dynamics of maternal reports to CPS, emphasizing the need for lasting and family-focused interventions.
AhnE.AnR.Jonson-ReidM.PalmerL. (2024). Leveraging machine learning for effective child maltreatment prevention: A case study of home visiting service assessments. Child Abuse & Neglect, 151(Supplement_2), Article 106706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106706
2.
AhnE.PrindleJ.ReddyJ.Putnam-HornsteinE. (2022). Predictors of maternal recidivism in the child protection system. Child Maltreatment, 28(2), 307–317. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595221100715
3.
BalboN.BillariF. C.MillsM. (2013). Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research: La fécondité dans les sociétés avancées: un examen des recherches. European Journal of Population/Revue Européenne de Démographie, 29(1), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-012-9277-y
BrännströmL.VinnerljungB.HjernA. (2020). Outcomes in adulthood after long-term foster care: A sibling approach. Child Maltreatment, 25(4), 383–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559519898755
6.
BroadhurstK.MasonC. (2020). Child removal as the gateway to further adversity: Birth mother accounts of the immediate and enduring collateral consequences of child removal. Qualitative Social Work, 19(1), 15–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325019893412
7.
Brooks-GunnJ.SchneiderW.WaldfogelJ. (2013). The Great Recession and the risk for child maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37(10), 721–729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.08.004
CrowneS. S.GonsalvesK.BurrellL.McFarlaneE.DugganA. (2012). Relationship between birth spacing, child maltreatment, and child behavior and development outcomes among at-risk families. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16(7), 1413–1420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0909-3
10.
Cuccaro-AlaminS.EastmanA. L.FoustR.McCroskeyJ.NghiemH. T.Putnam-HornsteinE. (2021). Strategies for constructing household and family units with linked administrative records. Children and Youth Services Review, 120, Article 105706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105706
11.
DrakeB.Jonson-ReidM. (2013). Poverty and child maltreatment. In KorbinJ. E.KrugmanR. D. (Eds.), Handbook of child maltreatment (pp. 131–148). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7208-3
12.
DrakeB.Jonson-ReidM.KimH. (2017). Surveillance bias in child maltreatment: A tempest in a teapot. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(9), 971. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14090971
13.
DubowitzH.KimJ.BlackM. M.WeisbartC.SemiatinJ.MagderL. S. (2011). Identifying children at high risk for a child maltreatment report. Child Abuse & Neglect, 35(2), 96–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2010.09.003
14.
DuffeeJ. H.MendelsohnA. L.KuoA. A.LeganoL. A.EarlsM. F.,COUNCIL ON COMMUNITY PEDIATRICS, COUNCIL ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, COMMITTEE ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT, ChiltonL. A.FlanaganP. J.DilleyK. J.GreenA. E.GutierrezJ. R.KeaneV. A.KrugmanS. D.LintonJ. M.McKelveyC. D.NelsonJ. L.FlahertyE. G.WilliamsP. G. (2017). Early childhood home visiting. Pediatrics, 140(3), Article e20172150. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-2150
15.
EdwardsF.FongK.CopelandV.RazM.DettlaffA. (2023). Administrative burdens in child welfare systems. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 9(5), 214–231. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2023.9.5.09
16.
FongK. (2020). Getting eyes in the home: Child protective services investigations and state surveillance of family life. American Sociological Review, 85(4), 610–638. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122420938460
17.
FontS. A.Maguire-JackK. (2020). It’s not “Just poverty”: Educational, social, and economic functioning among young adults exposed to childhood neglect, abuse, and poverty. Child Abuse & Neglect, 101, Article 104356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104356
18.
FranziniL.RibbleJ. C.KeddieA. M. (2001). Understanding the hispanic paradox. Ethnicity & Disease, 11(3), 496–518. 11572416.
19.
FrisellT.ÖbergS.Kuja-HalkolaR.SjölanderA. (2012). Sibling comparison designs: BiSibling comparison designs: Bias from non-shared confounders and measurement errors from non-shored confounders and measurement error. Epidemiology, 23(5), 713–720. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e31825fa230
GrantT.Christopher GrahamJ.ErnstC. C.Michelle PeavyK.BrownN. N. (2014). Improving pregnancy outcomes among high-risk mothers who abuse alcohol and drugs: Factors associated with subsequent exposed births. Children and Youth Services Review, 46, 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.07.014
22.
Hamilton-GiachritsisC. E.BrowneK. D. (2005). A retrospective study of risk to siblings in abusing families. Journal of Family Psychology, 19(4), 619–624. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.19.4.619
23.
HickeyG.McGillowayS.LeckeyY.FurlongM.LeavyS.StokesA.O’ConnorS.BywaterT.DonnellyM. (2019). Mothers’ well-being, parenting attitudes, and home environment: Cumulative risk and parity in early motherhood. Child: Care, Health and Development, 45(4), 523–530. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12677
24.
HinesD. A.KantorG. K.HoltM. K. (2006). Similarities in siblings’ experiences of neglectful parenting behaviors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 30(6), 619–637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.11.008
25.
Johnson-MotoyamaM.Putnam-HornsteinE.DettlaffA. J.ZhaoK.Finno-VelasquezM.NeedellB. (2015). Disparities in reported and substantiated infant maltreatment by maternal hispanic origin and nativity: A birth cohort study. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19(5), 958–968. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-014-1594-9
KimH.DrakeB. (2018). Child maltreatment risk as a function of poverty and race/ethnicity in the USA. International Journal of Epidemiology, 47(3), 780–787. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyx280
28.
KimH.DrakeB. (2019). Cumulative prevalence of onset and recurrence of child maltreatment reports. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 58(12), 1175–1183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.02.015
29.
KimH.WildemanC.Jonson-ReidM.DrakeB. (2017). Lifetime prevalence of investigating child maltreatment among US children. American Journal of Public Health, 107(2), 274–280. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303545
30.
KiselyS.StrathearnL.NajmanJ. M. (2021). Risk factors for maltreatment in siblings of abused children. Pediatrics, 147(5), Article e2020036004. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-036004
31.
LagerbergD.MagnussonM. (2013). Utilization of child health services, stress, social support and child characteristics in primiparous and multiparous mothers of 18-month-old children. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 41(4), 374–383. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494813484397
32.
LanierP.Jonson-ReidM. (2014). Comparing primiparous and multiparous mothers in a nurse home visiting prevention program. Birth, 41(4), 344–352. https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12120
33.
LeryB.ShawT. V.MagruderJ. (2005). Using administrative child welfare data to identify sibling groups. Children and Youth Services Review, 27(7), 783–791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2004.12.012
34.
LiZ.McKeagueI. W.LumeyL. H. (2014). Optimal design strategies for sibling studies with binary exposures. International Journal of Biostatistics, 10(2), 185–196. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijb-2014-0015
35.
Logan-GreeneP.Semanchin JonesA. (2018). Predicting chronic neglect: Understanding risk and protective factors for CPS-involved families. Child & Family Social Work, 23(2), 264–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12414
36.
Maguire-JackK.LanierP.Johnson-MotoyamaM.WelchH.DineenM. (2015). Geographic variation in racial disparities in child maltreatment: The influence of county poverty and population density. Child Abuse & Neglect, 47(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.05.020
MartinezG.DanielsK. (2023). Fertility of men and women aged 15–49 in the United States: National survey of family growth, 2015–2019. National Center for Health Statistics. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc:122080
39.
MerrittD. H. (2020). How do families experience and interact with CPS?The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 692(1), 203–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716220979520
40.
MulderT. M.KuiperK. C.van der PutC. E.StamsG.-J. J. M.AssinkM. (2018). Risk factors for child neglect: A meta-analytic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 77, 198–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.01.006
41.
Office of Management and Budget. (1997). Revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Federal Register, 62(210), 58782–58790.
42.
PagerD.ShepherdH. (2008). The sociology of discrimination: Racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and consumer markets. Annual Review of Sociology, 34(1), 181–209. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.33.040406.131740
43.
PalmerL.FontS.EastmanA. L.GuoL.Putnam-HornsteinE. (2024). What does child protective services investigate as neglect? A population-based study. Child Maltreatment, 29(1), 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595221114144
PrindleJ.SutharH.Putnam-HornsteinE. (2023). An open-source probabilistic record linkage process for records with family-level information: Simulation study and applied analysis. PLoS One, 18(10), Article e0291581. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291581
47.
Putnam-HornsteinE.AhnE.PrindleJ.MagruderJ.WebsterD.WildemanC. (2021). Cumulative rates of child protection involvement and terminations of parental rights in a California birth cohort, 1999–2017. American Journal of Public Health, 111(6), 1157–1163. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306214
48.
Putnam-HornsteinE.PrindleJ. J.RebbeR. (2022). Community disadvantage, family socioeconomic status, and racial/ethnic differences in maltreatment reporting risk during infancy. Child Abuse & Neglect, 130(Pt 4), Article 105446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105446
49.
RebbeR.MienkoJ. A.MartinsonM. L. (2020). Incidence and risk factors for abusive head trauma: A population-based study. Child Abuse Review, 29(3), 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2630
50.
RebbeR.MienkoJ. A.MartinsonM. L. (2022). Reports and removals of child maltreatment-related hospitalizations: A population-based study. Child Maltreatment, 27(2), 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559520984549
51.
RebbeR.SattlerK. M.MienkoJ. A. (2022). The association of race, ethnicity, and poverty with child maltreatment reporting. Pediatrics, 150(2), Article e2021053346. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-053346
52.
ReddyJ.SchiffD.TerplanM.JonesH.Putnam-HornsteinE. (2024). Child protection system removal and short-interval births among individuals with prenatal substance use. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 143(5), 700–703. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000005552
53.
RobertsD. E. (2014). Child protection as surveillance of African American families. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 36(4), 426–437. https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2014.967991
54.
RybińskaA.BaiY.GoodmanW. B.DodgeK. A. (2023). Birth spacing and child maltreatment: Population-level estimates for North Carolina. Child Maltreatment, Article 10775595231171879. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595231171879
55.
SchickM.SchönbucherV.LandoltM. A.SchnyderU.XuW.MaierT.Mohler-KuoM. (2016). Child maltreatment and migration: A population-based study among immigrant and native adolescents in Switzerland. Child Maltreatment, 21(1), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559515617019
ShahP. S.Knowledge Synthesis Group on Determinants of LBW/PT births. (2010). Parity and low birth weight and preterm birth: A systematic review and meta-analyses. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 89(7), 862–875. https://doi.org/10.3109/00016349.2010.486827
58.
SmithJ. N.GuttmannA.KoppA.VandermorrisA.ShouldiceM.HarronK. L. (2024). Association of maternal risk factors with infant maltreatment: An administrative data cohort study. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 109(1), 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2022-325239
59.
SpanoR. (2018). We are family: Specifying the unique contribution of abuse and neglect of siblings on the prevalence, severity, and chronicity of maltreatment in the household. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33(15), 2420–2438. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515625908
60.
StithS. M.LiuT.DaviesL. C.BoykinE. L.AlderM. C.HarrisJ. M.SomA.McPhersonM.DeesJ. E. M. E. G. (2009). Risk factors in child maltreatment: A meta-analytic review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 14(1), 13–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2006.03.006
61.
StoltenborghM.Bakermans-KranenburgM. J.AlinkL. R. A.van IJzendoornM. H. (2015). The prevalence of child maltreatment across the globe: Review of a series of meta-analyses. Child Abuse Review, 24(1), 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2353
62.
WhiteO. G.HindleyN.JonesD. P. (2015). Risk factors for child maltreatment recurrence: An updated systematic review. Medicine, Science & the Law, 55(4), 259–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025802414543855
63.
WildemanC.EmanualN.LeventhalJ. M.Putnam-HornsteinE.WaldfogelJ.LeeH. (2014). The prevalence of confirmed maltreatment among US children, 2004 to 2011. Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, 168(8), 706–713. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.410
64.
WildemanC.EmanuelN. (2014). Cumulative risks of foster care placement by age 18 for U.S. Children, 2000-2011. PLoS One, 9(3), e92785–e92787. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092785
65.
YiY.EdwardsF. R.WildemanC. (2020). Cumulative prevalence of confirmed maltreatment and foster care placement for US children by race/ethnicity, 2011–2016. American Journal of Public Health, 110(5), 704–709. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305554
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
