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Children with disabilities experience elevated rates of maltreatment, but little is known about the interaction of children with autism spectrum disorder with child protection systems. A population-based dataset of 24,306 children born in 2008 in Tennessee, which included 387 children with autism spectrum disorder identified through the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring network, was linked with state child protection records. Rates of maltreatment referrals, screening for further action, and substantiated maltreatment were examined for children with versus without autism spectrum disorder. Significantly more children with autism spectrum disorder (17.3%) than without (7.4%) were referred to the Child Abuse Hotline. Children with autism spectrum disorder were less likely than children without autism spectrum disorder to have referrals screened in for further action (62% vs 91.6%, respectively), but substantiated maltreatment rates were similar across groups (3.9% vs 3.4%, respectively). Girls versus boys with autism spectrum disorder were more likely to have substantiated maltreatment (13.6% vs 1.9%, respectively). The high percentage of children with autism spectrum disorder referred for allegations of maltreatment, the differential pattern of screening referrals in for further action, and the high levels of substantiated maltreatment of girls with autism spectrum disorder highlights the need for enhanced training and knowledge of the complex issues faced by children with autism spectrum disorder, their families, and state welfare agencies.

States continue to search for ways to prevent harm to children and families within the child welfare system. Recently, states and researchers alike have looked to other high hazard sectors that have experienced harm-free performance by creating and sustaining a strong safety culture – an organizational focus and priority on safety. Safety culture is enabled by leader actions to prioritize safety (safety climate) and make it safe for employees to take an interpersonal risk (psychological safety). Safety culture is enacted by behaviors for detecting and correcting errors and unexpected events (safety organizing) and recognizing how stress affects work performance (stress recognition). However, despite their conceptual relevance and practical promise for child welfare, these and other safety culture constructs have yet to be subjected to rigorous empirical analysis in child welfare. This study draws on 1719 employees in the state of Tennessee's child welfare system to examine whether safety culture can be reliably and validly measured, can characterize organizations across a state (i.e., employees have shared perceptions of the safety culture), and be linked to relevant outcomes (e.g., employee emotional exhaustion). Our results confirm that components of safety culture can be reliably and validly measured in child welfare, perceptions of culture are shared within each of the Tennessee child welfare system's twelve regions, and that safety culture is generally associated with lower levels of employee emotional exhaustion, but also indicate that there is considerable opportunity for improvement as the levels of safety culture are low relative to other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child Protective Services Agencies (CPSAs) share many characteristics with other organizations operating in high-risk, high-profile industries. Over the past 50 years, industries as diverse as aviation, nuclear power, and healthcare have applied principles from safety science to improve practice. he current paper describes the rationale, characteristics, and challenges of applying concepts from the safety culture literature to CPSAs. Preliminary efforts to apply key principles aimed at improving child safety and well-being in two states are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]