Research cited in this Child Welfare Monitor article indicates that most poor parents do not neglect their children. So when poor families are screened into child protection it raises the concern that this is happening because mandated reporters and child protection workers have trouble distinguishing poverty from neglect.
National statistics however show that only a quarter of child protection reports alleging neglect are for unmet material needs, and just a quarter of those are screened in.
Further, states including Minnesota define neglect in statute as a failure to provide material necessities “when reasonably able to do so”, and Minnesota operational guidelines (p. 37) state that maltreatment findings should not be made based solely on conditions of poverty.
Statistics are hard to obtain, but these standards suggest that workers are likely screening families into child protection for deliberate neglect not poverty.
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