A recent study by Child Trends showed that government programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit reduced child poverty from 27.9% to 11.4% between 1993 and 2019. Since poverty is correlated with child maltreatment, this should have prompted a corresponding reduction in abuse and neglect.
In fact it did. Federal statistics show that, beginning in 2015, screened-in maltreatment reports dropped from 47 to around 32 per 1,000 children. The lag time from the reduction in poverty was lengthy, but nevertheless the expected improvement happened.
While racial disparities remain, research by Emily Putnam-Hornstein et. al. shows that when the impact of poverty is erased, child maltreatment referral and substantiation rates for Black children are similar to or slightly lower than for whites. This indicates that promoting economic justice is perhaps the most powerful strategy for addressing disparities in child welfare.
Join Rich for a full discussion in this week’s podcast, here or wherever you hear your favorite podcast shows. Just search for our channel, Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota.
You can read the full transcript of the podcast here.