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As jurisdictions move away from treating juvenile delinquents and status offenders similarly in a legal context some, including New York City, are grappling with the fact that many of the interventions that have been developed for status offenders may also be appropriate for juvenile delinquents. Furthermore, there is anecdotal evidence that these populations may overlap considerably. To better understand the relationships between these populations, this paper attempts to measure the extent of the overlap between the delinquency and status offender populations in New York City, and determine whether different outcomes occur for juvenile delinquents with status offender history. By merging administrative data sets from child welfare, probation, and court agencies, we develop a sample of status offenders and juvenile delinquents petitioned to the New York City Family Court in 2004. Using data ranging from 1999 to 2006, we are then able to track these populations to look at their involvement in various systems before and after the 2004 petition event. From these data, this paper provides estimates of co-occurring intakes into these agencies and family court appearances, and identifies how different trajectories into the status offender and delinquency system impact dispositional outcomes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the penalties associated with child support enforcement, compared with the penalties involved with other prosecutions. Child support non-payment, while not technically a crime under the criminal code is prosecuted in Canada with a variety of penalties, including incarceration. While some of these penalties, such as the removal or restriction of driving licenses have no equivalent in the criminal justice system, except as part of a conditional sentence intended to protect the community. Other penalties, such as fines, prison and loss of passport are consistent with typical sentencing alternatives in a criminal case. This paper also explores how the use of criminal-like penalties for child support non-payment has evolved. This evolution has resulted in a greater variety of penalties, the wider use of these penalties and a curious legal adaptation by both the courts and legislatures to enable the legal framework. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research involving minors introduces an added layer of human subjects' protection. While all research requires informed consent of study subjects, parental consent is also required for minors. The initial loss rate introduced by the inability to locate subjects, their parents, and/or to secure their consent poses a challenge for researchers: that is, recruiting a representative sample of the targeted population. Whether conducting school-based or household surveys, some subset of the population will not be contacted or will decline participation. An evaluator's or researcher's goal is to reduce this initial loss rate as much as possible. In this paper we describe procedures that have proven effective in obtaining high rates (72% and 78%) of active parental consent in two multi-site longitudinal school-based evaluations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on findings from an exploratory, qualitative study of selected attempts to implement strengths-based, positive youth development-focused principles in juvenile justice practice. The dominant perspective in juvenile justice, as in most other practice settings, is problem-focused and operates from a deficit model. However, many practitioners in child and adolescent related services have recently adopted a vastly different perspective, focused on promoting supports and opportunities intended to maximize the likelihood that youth will develop positively to their fullest potential, and this perspective is beginning to be found in some juvenile justice settings as well. The focus of this study was to determine a) the extent to which strengths-based, positive youth development-focused practice is actually occurring in the selected programs; b) structural and functional aspects of organizations that are (or are not) aligned with these practices; and c) factors that have facilitated or hindered the implementation of these practices. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child maltreatment is associated with an increased risk for depression, delinquency, and anti-social behavior. Furthermore, because child maltreatment tends to co-occur with other adversities, including parental conflict, parental psychopathology, community violence, and poverty, resilient adaptation may be particularly challenging. Yet, some maltreated children achieve higher levels of adaptive functioning than others. This presentation uses the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) to examine resilience among children involved with child protective services (CPS). The sample includes over 5,000 child maltreatment cases of children aged 0 to 14 years at baseline. Detailed data were gathered from children, caregivers, caseworkers, and teachers at baseline, 12, 18, and 36 months after the initial report. Analyses will examine the prevalence of resilience, including behavioral, developmental, and educational resilience. Stability and change in resilience will also be explored by using multiple time points. We will explore whether short-term adaptation predicts long-term improvement. The data offer a unique opportunity to analyze a national longitudinal sample of CPS cases to develop practice and policy recommendations in order to enhance resilience among high-risk children. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study provides a critical examination of the current state of the United States Child Welfare System using data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. Specifically, the authors assess the role of the child welfare system and the state as two coercive powers which systematically remove children from families in need, resulting in the criminalization of poverty. Capitalizing on the similarities between the Child Welfare System and the American system of criminal justice, the authors argue against an over-reliance on traditional forms of control which encourage the systematic withdrawal of social support and public services. Examining federal child welfare legislation and the monetary incentives, which perpetuate parental rights termination among certain groups, the authors argue state's determination of suitability is severely impacted by the incentives received. Employing a human rights perspective, the authors will present a number of front-end and restorative strategies which serve as coping mechanisms that minority families in general, and African American families in particular have employed to maintain the family structure since the institution of slavery. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood maltreatment has been associated with increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as for problematic substance use. In addition, a number of studies have reported a relationship between PTSD and problematic substance use in clinical and community samples. There is conflicting evidence, however, on whether the onset of PTSD precedes or follows the onset of substance use problems. This presentation will examine the relationship between PTSD and problematic substance use and the potential role of PTSD as a mediator between child abuse and neglect and problematic substance use. We use data from a research project based on a prospective cohort design study in which abused and neglected children were matched with non-abused and non-neglected children and followed into adulthood. Interviews were conducted in young adulthood (mean age=29, N=1196) and again in middle adulthood (mean age = 39.5, N = 896). We examine the effects of child abuse and neglect on PTSD and substance abuse, compare age-at-onset curves for substance abuse and PTSD, and conduct formal tests of mediation. Finally, we discuss the implications of the findings for the development of interventions for childhood maltreatment. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This presentation will give an overview of child abuse and neglect cases in California using secondary data collected by the Child Welfare Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Specifically, the presentation will look at data for child abuse and neglect cases before and after the institution of the California-Child Family Services Review legislation (AB 636) that mandates participating counties to improve outcomes in three key areas, (1) safety outcomes, (2) permanency and stability outcomes, and (3) child and family well-being outcomes. This presentation will examine the data before and after the implementation of this legislation in selected counties to determine if the legislation has made a positive impact on child welfare cases, placements, and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childrens Advocacy Centers (CACs) are a multidisciplinary investigative response to child abuse bringing together law enforcement, child protective services, mental health professionals, and prosecutors. With more than 460 centers throughout the country, CACs are changing the child abuse investigation process. Because CACs typically involve law enforcement early in the investigation and there is a coordinated response to gathering evidence, CACs could impact the criminal justice process for child abuse. Yet, very few studies have compared criminal justice outcomes of child abuse in communities with CACs and those without such centers. This presentation will compare referral to prosecution, guilty pleas, and conviction of child abuse cases investigated at communities with and without CACs. This presentation will also examine the types and severity of sentences that child abuse offenders receive and compare to other sentencing data nationally. Data comes from results of a two-year evaluation on eight communities throughout the country four with CACs and four communities without CACs. Data has been collected on approximately 1400 cases and 380 interviews have been conducted with non-offending caregivers and child victims. The federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention funded this project. Information collected includes child and offender demographic data, law enforcement and CPS involvement, evidence available at referral for prosecution, actions taken by the prosecutor, reasons why cases were not filed for criminal prosecution, the specific charges filed and the final charges, and the sentence imposed. The implications for understanding the criminal justice response to child abuse victims will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth aging out of the child welfare system represent a population at great risk for offending during early adulthood, yet little is known about offending among this population. Using self-report, longitudinal data, this research examines arrests among a sample of Illinois youth aging out of the child welfare system. Illinois is a unique state in which to study offending among youth aging out of the child welfare system because youth in Illinois are allowed to remain in care until age 21. Yet not all youth elect to remain in the system past their 18th birthday. Preliminary findings suggest that youth who remain in care past age 18 are doing much better than their counterparts who leave care in terms of education, employment, and receipt of services to aid in the transition to adulthood. Whether youth who remain in care past age 18 are less likely to be arrested than those who leave the child welfare system once they reach age 18 is the central question of our research. We use a bivariate probit, instrumental variable model to estimate the effect of staying in care on arrests between the ages of 19 and 20. The proposed research can guide policymakers in their thinking about the potential advantages of allowing youth to remain in the child welfare system past age 18, as well as about crime prevention during the transition to adulthood among a particularly vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The involvement of youth in prostitution has proven to be a difficult and complex issue for law enforcement, child welfare, and social service agencies to confront. This stems from the complicated social and legal aspects of the problem, which have created considerable ambiguity in how to recognize, define and, ultimately, handle juveniles engaging in prostitution. This research project examines how juvenile prostitutes are currently conceptualized by law enforcement, as victims of child sexual abuse or as delinquent offenders, by examining law enforcement's response to this social problem. Information was gathered on one hundred and twenty-four juveniles who had engaged in prostitution, from six major U.S. cities. Each case is examined to determine if the juvenile has been treated as a victim, as an offender or as both by law enforcement. Analyses examine factors which affect law enforcement decision making about how to handle cases in which juveniles are involved in prostitution. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study provides an update and extension of Widom (1991) and Widom and Maxfield (2001) utilizing criminal history data through 1994 to re-examine in-depth the role of placement as a mediator of adult criminality in maltreated youth with adult arrest records through an average age of 31.8. In addition, this study examines differential associations between placement and adult criminality by race/ethnicity and gender. Preliminary results confirm earlier findings indicating that out-of-home placement is associated with increased criminality only when it is associated with pre-existing delinquency. However, initial results suggest that these patterns may vary by race/ethnicity and gender. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many jurisdictions have established residency restrictions for registered sex offenders through the use of child safety zone laws. Many of these laws prohibit sex offenders from living within specified distances from locations where children congregate, including schools, playgrounds, and daycare centers. Unfortunately, these laws often consist of arbitrary boundary sizes and are enacted with little regard to the availability of living areas for the offenders that return to the community. The current study seeks to assess this problem in terms of the availability of affordable housing and the extent of displacement of offenders. We use land parcel and sex offender data from a medium-sized Midwestern city obtained prior to the implementation of these laws to assess the consequences of various possible restrictions on both the housing availability and the potential displacement of current sex offenders. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research project had as its purpose preventing potential child maltreatment from birth. Many perpetrators of child maltreatment are caregivers who were abused or neglected as a child. This project focused on a disadvantaged low income Hispanic population providing early childhood home visitation to prevent child maltreatment. As a result of in-hospital screening almost 4,000 families with a newborn child, we identified about twenty percent of the families as high-risk. From two different interviews using the Bridges Screening Tool and the Kempe Parenting Inventory, we had information from mothers on their own particularized experiences with child abuse. Goals were (1) To guarantee environmental safety for all children in a home, (2) to ensure personal child safety of newborns as they aged by preventing child maltreatment, and (3) to reduce potential child maltreatment to subsequent births by the same mother. All high-risk mothers were offered multiple home visits and intervention concentrating on safety, anger management referrals, developing a supportive family environment, nurturing parenting skills, developing stable family relationships, emphasizing household rules, and discipline and monitoring children, and assisting access to health care and social services. Expected successful outcomes were (1) no child maltreatment, (2) home safety checks, (3) immunization, (4) obtaining an usual medical home, (5) developing an individualized family support plan, and (6) meeting the goals of the family support plan. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has considered the motivations for human service work among different occupational groups. In this study, attention is given to whether a sample of human services workers (n=175) had childhood maltreatment experiences similar to a random sample of members of the public (n=372). Results suggest modest differences between the abuse experiences of the two groups. Implications are provided. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Girls and Boys Town (originally called Boys Town) was founded in 1917 in Omaha, NE by Father Flanagan to help troubled boys. In addition to the legendary Nebraska residential program, GBT also offers a short-term shelter program for girls. The purpose of the program is to provide short-term (typically fewer than 30 days) staff secure residential care to adolescent (ages 11-18) female offenders. The goal of the program is to prevent the recurrence of problem behaviors. The multi-site evaluation of the program is being conducted at three sites: Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; and Atlanta, GA. The quasi-experimental design matches 221 girls who are exposed to the GBT program with a comparison group of 221 girls who received traditional probation services. The comparison group is matched on the basis of race, age, type of offense, and offense history. The short-term outcomes assessed are changes in the number of treatment plan goals met, as well as the overall adjustment and behavior. The long-term outcomes assessed are recidivism, commitment to school, attitude toward employment, substance use, sexual activity, and family relationships. The analysis uses HLM techniques to assess the effectiveness of the program. Preliminary findings and issues in implementation will be discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]