Policy change following a well-publicized case: The impacts on child maltreatment reports

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Kayla McKean Act, a policy adopted in the State of Florida to encourage child maltreatment reporting by educational, medical, and legal professionals. ... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Kayla McKean Act, a policy adopted in the State of Florida to encourage child maltreatment reporting by educational, medical, and legal professionals. This policy’s adoption was prompted by a well-publicized case in which a child was murdered by her father. A longitudinal view of the number of child maltreatment reports allowed for an assessment of the impacts of this case, which occurred in November, and the impacts of the policy, which took effect in the following July.

Method: This study consisted of a secondary data analysis of Florida’s segment of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). Two years of report data were included in the analysis with an attention toward the number of child maltreatment reports accepted per month. A visual inspection of longitudinal graphs representing monthly report counts was conducted for three variables: reports by educational professionals; reports by medical professionals; and reports by legal professionals.

Results: Results indicate that neither the case nor the policy produced effects on the number of reports from educational and medical professionals. Visual inspection of the line graphs for these two report sources revealed seasonal trends across both years of data with report numbers shifting during the summer months, the start of the school year, and winter holidays. Reports from legal professionals dramatically rose in the months immediately following the date the policy took effect, suggesting a short-term policy impact for this group.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that the reporting law may have had a differential effect on mandated reporters with legal professionals being the most responsive to the law. Further research is needed to identify the causes behind the differential effect and the ways in which these policies can be improved.