Follow-up duration of children taken into care by a child protection service following the participation of the parents in the evidence-based parenting program "Incredible years"

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine if the follow-up duration in a child protection service varies according to the type of maltreatment and to whether or not the child has been placed in out-of-home care. ... [ view full abstract ]

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine if the follow-up duration in a child protection service varies according to the type of maltreatment and to whether or not the child has been placed in out-of-home care.
Method: The sample consists of 296 children involved in a child protection service between 2007 and 2013 whose parents participated in the evidence-based parenting program Incredible years (IY). Based upon the administrative data of the child protection service, hierarchical regression analyses were performed in order to establish if the type of maltreatment suffered by the child (physical abuse, sexual abuse, child neglect or psychological abuse) and the out-of-home care, as the case may be, affect the duration of the follow-up in a child protection service following the participation of the parents in the IY program.
Results: Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that, among children whose parents participated in the IY program, the duration of the follow-up in a child protection service is significantly longer for those who have been victims of neglect than for those who have suffered from psychological abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse. Furthermore, a trend revealed that children who have been victims of psychological abuse have a longer follow-up than those who have suffered from physical abuse. In addition, children placed in out-of-home care have a significantly longer duration of follow up than those who live with their parents.
Conclusion: These results indicate that despite the participation in an evidence-based program by the parents, variations are still observed with respect to the duration of the follow-up among children involved in a child protection service. In light of the foregoing results, it could be hypothesized that the impact of parent training programs varies according to the characteristics of each parents.