when mental health support services were more accessible and in person. This further supports the chance of increased violence and is why family violence advocates were concerned about the increased potential for harm (Usher et al., 2020). Within this study, further review of existing research on isolation during illness breakouts (Brooks et al., 2020) found that parents and children who were quarantined were more likely than those who were not socially isolated to experience posttraumatic stress and symptoms of trauma-related mental health disorders. It also found that alcohol abuse or dependency symptoms were present among quarantined study participants. This is important to note due to the link between parental substance use and child maltreatment (Kepple, 2017). The impact of postquarantine stressors, including financial loss (Brooks et al., 2020) and job loss—which as noted above are factors linked to child abuse Sample The sample used for this study was publicly available child welfare data from New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). The goal of ACS is to prevent child maltreatment and provide services to families to avoid out-of- home removals for youth. New York City’s ACS serves all five boroughs of New York City (i.e., Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island) and investigates approximately 55,000 cases of maltreatment annually (NYC Children, 2020). Available data focused on frequency counts of new case openings for preventive services at 42 timepoints (i.e., January–June 2014–2020) across all boroughs of New York City. Preventive services include but are not limited to parental coaching and stress management, childcare, housing assistance, domestic violence advocacy, substance use treatment, services for survivors of sexual exploitation, and intensive family treatment (NYC Children, 2020). Due to the unavailability of demographic data for new case openings, this study reports demographics for New York City for context. In 2018, there were 1,739,256 youth under
and neglect (Scheneck-Fontaine & Gassman- Pines, 2020)—should also be considered. With the strong association between social isolation, stress, financial hardship, and family violence, it is likely that the need for child welfare services and support increased dramatically when social distancing and shelter-in-place policies were enacted. It is also anticipated that families who had not historically needed services prior to the pandemic may have an increased need for support. However, anecdotal reports from individual agencies suggest that although the need is high, service use during the COVID-19 pandemic was low. At the time of this study, there had not been any empirical studies documenting whether service use for child maltreatment prevention and intervention programs in the United States has been impacted by COVID-19. This study seeks to fill the gap in the literature and make a data- driven call to action for evolving child welfare outreach efforts (Allen et al., 2021). age 18 located in New York City (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). Approximately 25.9% of youth identified as White, 35.6% as Latinx, 21.6% as Black, 11.6% as Asian, and 5.4% as other. Slightly over half of youth in New York City lived in a household with two married parents (54.9%), while 30.4% lived with a single parent, 9.5% lived with grandparents, and 5.2% were in another living situation (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). Over 25% of families experienced economic hardship, with 26.7% of families reporting severe rent burden. As of April 27, 2020, New York City had reported 178,100 COVID-19 cases and 11,708 deaths. This death rate is three to six times greater than the city’s typical death rate (Katz & Sanger-Katz, 2020). In an effort to provide services to support and stabilize at-risk families, preventive services are a critical resource keeping New York City children out of the foster care system. ACS provides services to support and stabilize at-risk families. Some of the goals of the ACS preventive services are to strengthen families, avoid out- of-home-removals, and promote positive youth development. In the case of a referral to ACS,
Page 25
EliteLearning.com
Powered by FlippingBook