System Responses to Initial Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect Cases

Abstract

The assumption of child abuse and neglect reporting laws is that the welfare protective system will respond to reports with appropriate investigation and delivery of services. Previous research has revealed, however, that actions taken depend largely on the functions of the designated agency receiving the initial report. Police-investigated reports result in higher placement rates than those investigated by child welfare agencies. A common explanation for this finding is that cases reported to the police are more serious than those received by protective service agencies. This research investigates these patterns drawing on data from a series of studies of the juvenile justice and child protective services in Cook County, Illinois, 1975-1977. The findings confirm that emergency placement decisions are closely related to which agency received the initial report, but, contrary to expectation, these results are not explained by differences in severity of abuse neglect, family characteristics, or other attributes of case processing.