Responding holistically: Does total U.S. state safety net support generosity prevent child maltreatment?

Prior studies show that policies strengthening families' economic well-being may help reduce child maltreatment and child protective services (CPS) involvement. However, limited research has examined multiple programs holistically or accounted for substantial cross-state differences in both policy generosity and inclusivity.

This study examines the association between total state safety net support and CPS investigation rates at the (state-year) population level, by considering nine major safety net policies that vary in generosity and inclusion across states and over time.

We draw administrative data from the 2004-2019 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System child file. We link this data to unique state-year data that captures both the inclusivity and generosity of each safety net program.

We construct a "total expected state safety net support" measure that captures the average expected benefit package for a potentially needy family in each state and year. We estimate two-way state and year fixed-effects models.

We find that a $1000 annual increase in total expected state safety net support is associated with a 4% decline in state-year CPS investigations among children of all ages and those under age 5, with similar associations for neglect and physical abuse investigations. Estimates were comparable across racial-ethnic groups, although estimated magnitudes were slightly larger for Black non-Hispanic children under age five.

Our findings underscore the importance of measuring state safety net support holistically when examining its impact on CPS involvement, including accounting for both the generosity and inclusivity of multiple programs. Implications for policy are discussed.