Debt Strain and Child Protective Services Involvement

Research has identified a likely causal relation of economic precarity with both child maltreatment and child protective service (CPS) involvement. Yet, little is known about the relation between credit use (debt) and CPS involvement despite credit becoming an increasingly normative aspect of attempting to manage economic precarity for low-income families. We link individual-level longitudinal data on credit use to administrative records on CPS involvement, to examine whether credit related economic precarity-or 'debt strain'-is associated with increased CPS reports, allegations of child neglect and child abuse, and CPS removal of children for low-income mothers in Wisconsin from 2016-2021. Results from standard and mother-specific fixed-effects logistic regressions suggest that debt strain is associated with greater risk of CPS involvement, particularly for child neglect. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that these associations are concentrated among low-income and White mothers. We discuss implications for debt-regulation and CPS policy and programs.