Association between neighborhood greenspace and child protective services involvement

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Child Welfare Studies
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Child maltreatment and child protective service (CPS) involvement disproportionately affect families of color.
• Urban greenspace is linked to better mental health and reduced community violence.
• The relationship between greenspace and CPS involvement has not been previously studied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between neighborhood greenspace and CPS involvement.
• To determine if greenspace density correlates with substantiated child maltreatment reports, accepted CPS cases, or foster care placements.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of Philadelphia CPS data (2008-2018).
• Logistic regression used to assess associations at the census block level.
• Adjusted for sociodemographic factors and area deprivation index.

Main Results:

• Lower greenspace (<10%) was associated with 1.52 times higher odds of substantiated CPS reports compared to higher greenspace (>30%).
• Lower greenspace was also linked to increased odds of cases accepted for CPS services.
• A weaker correlation was observed between less greenspace and foster care placement.

Conclusions:

• Higher density of neighborhood greenspace is associated with a reduced risk of substantiated child maltreatment.
• Greenspace may offer a protective effect against CPS involvement.
• Urban planning incorporating greenspace could be a strategy to support child welfare.