Family Safety Nets and Child Outcomes of Families Involved with the U.S. Child Welfare System

A strong safety net, comprised of formal and informal supports, promotes wellbeing among low-income families, and these supports can operate synergistically. Despite the known potential power of safety nets to help families in times of need, research on what safety nets look like among families in the child welfare system (CWS) is lacking. Informed by the family stress model and with a nationally representative dataset of families involved with the CWS (N = 5,489), we used latent profile analysis to examine dimensions of family safety nets at baseline and tested the extent to which profiles were associated with child emotional and behavioral outcomes 36 months later, controlling for initial child symptom levels at baseline. Results showed families' formal, informal, and CWS support configurations were sorted across 4 profiles, and these profiles were linked, to varying degrees, with child emotional and behavioral problems 36 months later. Findings point to the importance of considering multiple dimensions of families' safety nets. The results suggest that integrated, comprehensive, and responsive safety nets may provide critical support for parents and children involved with the CWS.