Home Foreclosure and Child Protective Services Involvement

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Public Health
• Economics

Background:

• Home foreclosures represent a significant economic stressor for families.
• Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement, including investigations and substantiations, can have profound impacts on children and families.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between home foreclosure filings and subsequent child protective services (CPS) involvement.
• To determine if foreclosure filings predict increased risk of CPS investigations or substantiations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized administrative data from Wisconsin (2008-2011) linking foreclosure filings, CPS records, and public program participation for over 60,000 households.
• Employed piecewise exponential survival models to estimate the risk of CPS involvement.
• Included propensity score weighting in analyses to control for confounding factors.

Main Results:

• Households experiencing a home foreclosure filing demonstrated a significantly higher probability of CPS involvement.
• This elevated risk was observed both in the year preceding and the year following the foreclosure filing.
• The strongest associations between foreclosure and CPS involvement were noted in the periods immediately before and after the filing.

Conclusions:

• A clear association exists between home foreclosure filings and increased child protective services involvement.
• The findings suggest the increased risk may be linked to the economic hardship and stress associated with the foreclosure process, rather than the filing itself.
• Heightened CPS involvement is apparent during the period of financial strain leading up to and following a foreclosure.