Identifying academic difficulties in a child welfare population: Practice and policy implications

Objectives: Few data exist about the intersect of child welfare services and the educational system in Canada. This paper establishes the proportion of child maltreatment investigations involving academic difficulties while... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives: Few data exist about the intersect of child welfare services and the educational system in Canada. This paper establishes the proportion of child maltreatment investigations involving academic difficulties while exploring its contribution to key service dispositions: transfers to ongoing services and substantiation.
Methods: This presentation uses a provincial child welfare dataset to examine the academic profile of children who have been identified to the child welfare system. The data was collected using a multi-stage sampling strategy involving 17 child welfare agencies; there was an estimated 125,261 child maltreatment investigations.
Results: Twenty-two percent of child maltreatment investigations noted an academic difficulty. The presence of academic difficulties increased proportionality as the children aged. For investigations involving an allegation of neglect for 15 year olds, workers noted academic difficulties in 65% of investigations. Academic difficulties were predictive of the decision to transfer the investigation to ongoing services (OR: 1.6) and substantiation (OR=1.3) when controlling for the clinical concerns of the investigation.
Conclusions: Academic difficulties can be interpreted as an indicator of current functioning and as a predictor of future success. Research shows that disruptions in academics compound over time. Repeated disruptions are particularly significant, such as may be the case in situations of neglect. Ensuring appropriate effective support for students who have experienced maltreatment is complex given the crisis response nature of child welfare contrasted with long wait times and an emphasis on stability and client self-direction in mental health services. Yet students are, and should be, attending school throughout. Teachers may feel ill equipped to support vulnerable students and manage behavioural and academic expectations in the classroom. Academic difficulties are a contributing factor in child welfare decisions and the importance of collaborative interventions between sectors is recognized. The opportunities to support this vulnerable population are reviewed.