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Can Risk Factors and Opportunities to Be Observed Explain Why Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children Have
Razlyn Abdul Rahim1, R Pilkington1,2, K D'Onise1
1School of Public Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Insights
Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) children have fewer child protection contacts, likely due to fewer risk factors, not fewer system interactions. This study examined risk factors and system contact patterns in CALD and non-CALD children.
Area of Science:
- Child Protection Studies
- Public Health Research
- Socioeconomic Determinants of Health
Background:
- Child protection (CP) systems aim to safeguard children.
- Understanding risk factors and system contact is crucial for equitable child protection.
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) populations may experience unique challenges within child protection systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the prevalence of child protection risk factors between Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) and non-CALD children.
- To examine contact patterns with health, education, and housing systems as opportunities for observation and reporting to child protection.
- To determine if differences in system contact explain disparities in child protection involvement.
Main Methods:
- Utilized linked administrative data from South Australia (2009-2015) for 76,563 children from birth to age 7.
- Included data on health, education, and public housing, alongside parental records for mental health, substance use, domestic violence, and housing.
- Defined CALD children as those not Indigenous, speaking a language other than English/Indigenous/Sign, or having at least one parent born in a non-English speaking country.
Main Results:
- Contact for routine health visits and hospital admissions were similar between CALD and non-CALD children.
- CALD children had higher rates of emergency presentations.
- Non-CALD children had a higher prevalence of parental mental health issues, alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, and housing insufficiency by age 7.
Conclusions:
- Lower child protection contact in CALD children is associated with a lower prevalence of identified risk factors.
- Differences in system contact opportunities do not appear to explain the lower child protection involvement observed in CALD children.
- Findings suggest that risk factor prevalence, rather than system observation, is a key differentiator in child protection contact between CALD and non-CALD groups.
Aim:
Compared prevalence of risk factors for child protection (CP) contact and contact patterns with health, education and housing systems as opportunities to be observed for reporting to CP between Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) and non-CALD children.
Method:
Health, births, education and public housing data for children and parents from 12 months before the child's birth to age 7 from the South Australian Better Evidence, Better Outcomes, Linked Data platform.
Participants:
SA-born children in their first year in public school from 2009 to 2015 (n = 76 563). CALD: non-Indigenous, language other than English/Indigenous/Sign, or at least one parent born in a non-English speaking country.
Outcomes:
antenatal visits, 1-4-week check attendance, emergency presentations, and hospital admissions (0-7 years), preschool attendance, parental records for mental health, alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, self-harm, family domestic violence (FDV), maltreatment and housing insufficiency.
Results:
Contact for antenatal visits, 1-4-week check, and hospital admissions (0-7 years) were comparable across both groups. CALD children had more emergency presentations (RD 7.7% points, 95% CI 6.8-8.9). By age 7, more non-CALD children had at least one parent with mental health issues (RD 5.9 [95% CI 5.3-6.6]), AOD (RD 5.8 [95% CI 5.4-6.2]) and housing insufficiency (RD 7.8 [95% CI 6.9-8.6]). The prevalence of other risk factors was similar across both groups.
Conclusion:
The lower CP contact in CALD children is likely explained by a lower prevalence of CP risk factors and not due to fewer opportunities to be observed in their contact with the three systems.
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