Sarah A. Font

Objective: This study examines care arrangements for children before, during, and after maternal incarceration. Background: Family systems theory suggests that maternal incarceration may drastically alter family life for marginalized children, but little is known about how children's care arrangements change during and after maternal incarceration versus other forms of criminal legal system (CLS) involvement. Method: Leveraging longitudinal linked administrative data on 14,704 children whose biological mothers encountered the CLS in early and middle childhood, we use linear probability models and difference‐in‐difference analysis to examine how maternal incarceration shapes placement in foster care, adoption or guardianship, and other informal relative care. Results: Among children with maternal CLS contact, children with upcoming maternal incarceration had higher probabilities of foster care, adoption or guardianship, and informal relative care than those without upcoming maternal incarceration. Maternal incarceration was associated with a 2 percentage point increase in both foster care placement and informal nonparental care within the 6 months following onset; adoption and guardianship arrangements increased by nearly 2 percentage points within three years. Associations were largely driven by children whose mothers were incarcerated immediately upon the onset of CLS involvement or entering carceral spells longer than 6 months. Conclusions: Maternal incarceration has both immediate and long‐term implications for children's family environments.

Timing of foster care placement, especially early in life, may have important implications for children's later academic functioning. Given racial disparities in placement decisions, examining associations between age at foster care entry and school outcomes by race is warranted. To address this gap, linked, longitudinal administrative data were used for a cohort of infants involved with child protective services by age one (n = 8795; 47% White, 21% Black, 16% Hispanic, 16% other race/ethnicity; 52% male). Results suggest foster care placement in the first 6 months is related to higher odds of basic reading test scores and lower odds of absenteeism, with associations stronger for Black children. These results have significant implications for the child welfare system.

This study examines the differences in sentencing for offenses involving child victims versus adult victims within a statewide population of adults convicted of physical and sexual assault. Crimes against children are often viewed as particularly heinous and may consequently receive harsher sentences. However, children may be unreliable witnesses or unable to testify, leading to more lenient sentencing through plea agreements. This study investigates the disparities in sentencing for physical and sexual violence against children in comparison to adults. We utilize data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, which includes 47,288 adults convicted of physical and sexual assaults between 2014 and 2019. The sentencing outcomes encompass sentence type (incarceration versus noncustodial penalty) and severity (in relation to the presumptive sentence under guidelines). Logistic and linear regression models are employed to adjust for offender demographics and case characteristics. The findings indicate that physical assaults against children are punished less severely than those against adults, while sexual assaults against children receive harsher penalties than sexual assaults against adults. The implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Current U.S. law mandates notification of substance‐affected infants to state child welfare systems (CWS) for the purpose of assessment and service connections. Yet, CWS appears to identify a small share of substance‐affected infants at birth, potentially reflecting inconsistent diagnosis of prenatal substance exposure (PSE) and emerging efforts to limit toxicology testing. This study uses linked maternal and child administrative records (2015 to 2021) for Pennsylvania Medicaid‐covered births with CWS cases by age 3 ( N = 31,913) to investigate PSE prevalence. Using indicators from CWS records and both child and maternal Medicaid claims, we estimate that 45% of children involved with CWS by age 3 experienced PSE, as well as 59% of children entering foster care. Nearly half of these children were not involved with CWS at birth and a majority did not receive a medical diagnosis of PSE. Yet, extrapolated estimates suggest that 70% of Medicaid‐covered children with a PSE indicator will experience a CWS case by age 3. Absent high uptake of robust supportive interventions from other systems or agencies, avoiding notification of PSE at birth may not reduce long‐term involvement with CWS among children with PSE.

Research on sibling separation in foster care often focuses on cases where all siblings are removed. However, separation can also occur when only some children are placed in care, a scenario that is underexplored. This study investigates: the frequency of partial sibling placements; differences between placed and non-placed siblings, as well as split versus intact sibling groups; and the risk of re-report and future placement for non-placed children in split groups compared to those in intact groups. US child maltreatment report (CMR) and foster care caseload data are accessed from National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and Adoption and Foster Care Reporting System (AFCARS). Sibling groups are assigned based on shared CMR in 2018. At least 27.4% of sibling groups, where at least one child is placed, are split. These groups have wide age ranges between children. Children in split groups left at home are at higher risk of placement than children in non-split groups.

Children often enter foster care (FC) with mental health (MH) concerns. Failure or delay in initiating treatment may result in overreliance on acute MH services. This report leverages 2010–2019 linked administrative child welfare and healthcare claims data for 13,562 Wisconsin children entering FC at ages 3–16 years to describe patterns of MH services during FC and examine how MH service use varies by demographic characteristics and maltreatment, FC, and MH histories. Two-thirds of children received MH assessment or treatment during FC, of whom 61% initiated services within 3 months of entry. Younger age, kinship care, and absence of MH history were negatively associated with onset of assessment and treatment. One in 7 children used acute MH services, with higher rates for Black children, adolescents, and youth in non-family settings. Timely MH assessment and treatment is important for foster children’s wellbeing, but current guidelines may lack accountability and monitoring mechanisms.