title: The effect of Early Head Start on child welfare system involvement: A first look at longitudinal child maltreatment outcomes.
abstract: The high societal and personal costs of child maltreatment make identification of effective early prevention programs a high research priority. Early Head Start (EHS), a dual generational program serving low-income families with children prenatally through age three years, is one of the largest federally funded programs for infants and toddlers in the United States. A national randomized trial found EHS to be effective in improving parent and child outcomes, but its effectiveness in reducing child maltreatment was not assessed. The current study used administrative data from state child welfare agencies to examine the impact of EHS on documented abuse and neglect among children from seven of the original seventeen programs in the national EHS randomized controlled trial. Results indicated that children in EHS had significantly fewer child welfare encounters between the ages of five and nine years than did children in the control group, and that EHS slowed the rate of subsequent encounters. Additionally, compared to children in the control group, children in EHS were less likely to have a substantiated report of physical or sexual abuse, but more likely to have a substantiated report of neglect. These findings suggest that EHS may be effective in reducing child maltreatment among low-income children, in particular, physical and sexual abuse.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Improvement of Child and Family Studies, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-07541, United States.
authors.forename: Beth L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School and Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Touchpoints Center, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 1295 Boylston Street, Suite 320, Boston, MA 02215, United States.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ayoub
authors.affiliation: Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 1295 Boylston Street, Suite 320, Boston, MA 02215, United States.
authors.forename: Jessica Dym
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.affiliation: Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 1295 Boylston Street, Suite 320, Boston, MA 02215, United States.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Von Ende
authors.affiliation: Center for the Improvement of Child and Family Studies, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-07541, United States.
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Furrer
authors.affiliation: George Mason University, Department of Psychology, MSN 3F5, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, United States.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chazan-Cohen
authors.affiliation: Human Development & Family Studies, Michigan State University, 552 W. Circle Drive, 2G Human Ecology, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vallotton
authors.affiliation: Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, MS F-64, Atlanta, GA 30341, United States.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klevens
keywords: Child maltreatment; Early childhood; Evaluation; Intervention; Prevention; Randomized control trial