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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Intergenerational Child Protection Contact and Child Development Outcomes: A Whole Population Linked Data Study
Meredith Forsyth1, Alicia Montgomerie2, Kathleen Falster3
1Department of Paediatrics, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia.
Insights
Maternal child protection history significantly increases offspring
Area of Science:
- Child development and protection.
- Public health and epidemiology.
- Social determinants of health.
Background:
- Child protection contact is prevalent among mothers and their children.
- Maternal history of child protection involvement is linked to socio-economic and health disadvantages.
- Early life disadvantage and child protection system involvement are significant concerns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between maternal child protection histories and offspring's child protection contacts.
- To investigate the association between maternal child protection histories and developmental outcomes in children at age 5.
- To understand the intergenerational patterns of child protection involvement.
Main Methods:
- An observational cohort study utilizing linked South Australian administrative data.
- Inclusion criteria: children with South Australian birth registration and Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) records.
- Outcome measures: child protection system contact and developmental vulnerability on AEDC domains.
Main Results:
- 10.8% of mothers had a child protection contact history; 1.5% had out-of-home care placements.
- Children of mothers with child protection contact had higher rates of their own contact (50.4% vs. 11.4%) and developmental vulnerability (40.2% vs. 20.6%).
- Maternal child protection history correlated with increased socio-economic and health disadvantages at birth.
Conclusions:
- Maternal child protection history is a significant predictor of adverse child outcomes, including increased child protection contact and developmental vulnerability.
- The findings highlight the intergenerational cycle of child protection involvement and associated disadvantages.
- There is a need for well-resourced, health-led interventions during perinatal and early childhood periods to address these complex issues.
Objectives:
To investigate maternal child protection histories, and offspring child protection contacts and developmental outcomes, for children at age 5 years.
Study Design:
Observational cohort study using linked South Australian administrative birth, perinatal, child protection and child development data.
Participants, Setting:
Children with a South Australian birth registration and a record in the 2009, 2012, 2015 or 2018 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).
Main Outcome Measures:
Highest level of child protection system contact for children before starting school, and developmental vulnerability on one or more AEDC domains.
Results:
Of 69,332 children, 7522 (10.8%) had a mother with a history of any child protection contact, and 1019 (1.5%) had a mother with at least one out-of-home care placement. Maternal child protection history was associated with increasing levels of socio-economic and health disadvantage around the time of birth. For example, overall there were 8245/69,332 (11.9%) children born into a home where the parent(s) were unemployed, compared with 549/1019 (53.9%) with a maternal out-of-home care history. For children whose mothers had child protection contact, 3793/7522 (50.4%) had their own child protection contact by age 5 years, compared with 7033/61,810 (11.4%) for children whose mothers had no contact. Of 6771 children whose mothers had child protection contact, 2724 (40.2% [95% confidence interval], 39.1%-41.4%) were developmentally vulnerable on one or more AEDC domains when they started school, compared with 12,002/58,165 (20.6% [95% confidence interval], 20.3%-21.0%) children with no maternal child protection history.
Conclusion:
Child protection contact is common in both mothers and children, and maternal child protection history carries an increased burden of poor development outcomes at school entry. The scale and intersection of child protection system contact, early life disadvantage and poor development outcomes have implications for appropriately resourcing health-led supportive responses as early as possible during the perinatal and early childhood periods.
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