Animal-human relationships in child protective services: getting a baseline

Area of Science:

• Social Work
• Veterinary Public Health
• Child Welfare Studies

Background:

• Animal-human relationships (AHR) offer potential benefits to child welfare practice.
• Resources exist to integrate AHR, including animal abuse and animal-assisted interventions.
• Current integration levels within child protective services are largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the extent to which state public child welfare agencies incorporate AHR into child protective services.
• To examine the use of AHR assessment tools and cross-reporting policies in child protective services.
• To identify barriers and facilitators to AHR integration in child welfare.

Main Methods:

• National survey of state public child welfare agencies.
• Data collection on AHR practices, assessment tools, and cross-reporting policies.
• Analysis of agency-level data regarding AHR integration.

Main Results:

• Limited incorporation of AHR aspects into child protective services practice was observed.
• Variability exists in the utilization of AHR assessment tools across agencies.
• Inconsistent application of cross-reporting policies related to AHR was found.

Conclusions:

• Child protective services agencies are not fully leveraging AHR to enhance practice.
• Further development and dissemination of resources are needed to promote AHR integration.
• Policy and practice changes are recommended to better incorporate AHR into child welfare.