Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP) PolicyLab have discovered that the number of children who have been admitted to 38 of the nation’s largest children hospitals because of serious physical abuse has a substantial increased over the last 10 years.
The findings from the largest study to examine the impact of the recession on child abuse, published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics, discovered a strong link between the rate of physical child abuse and local mortgage foreclosures, which have been typical in the recent recession.
The findings of the CHOP study contradict national child welfare data, which claims that child abuse over the same period of time has declined.
Leading researcher, Joanne Wood, MD, MSHP, who works as an attending physician at CHOP and PolicyLab researcher declares:
“We were concerned that health care providers and child welfare workers anecdotally reported seeing more severe child physical abuse cases, yet national child protective services data indicated a downward trend. It’s well known that economic stress has been linked to an increase in child physical abuse, so we wanted to get to the bottom of the contrasting reports by formally studying hospital data on a larger scale.”
Their findings revealed that between 2000 and 2009, overall physical abuse increased by 0.79% and traumatic brain injury increased by 3%, whilst overall injury rates dropped by an annual 0.8% over the same period of time. The team calculated that each 1% increase in 90-day mortgage delinquencies over one year was linked to a 3% higher physical child abuse-related rate of hospital admissions and to a 5% higher admission caused by traumatic brain injury that was suspected to be due to child abuse.
According to Dr. Wood, the study presents welfare agencies and hospitals with opportunities to develop targeted prevention and intervention by collaborating and sharing data to gain better insight into the real rates of physical child abuse in communities across the country.
Dr. Wood explains:
“Two major themes emerge from this study. First, we see a clear opportunity to use hospital data along with child welfare data to ensure a more complete picture of child abuse rates both locally and nationally. Second, the study identifies another economic hardship – mortgage foreclosures – that is associated with severe physical abuse. As the foreclosure crisis is projected to continue in the near future, these results highlight the need to better understand the stress that housing insecurity places on families and communities so that we can better support them during difficult times.”
PolicyLab’s health services researchers who were involved in the study remarked that public agencies that work with vulnerable children and families are better equipped to offer assistance when the risk factors that are associated with higher physical child abuse rates are understood. Dr. Wood, who is also the research director of Safe Place: Center for Child Protection and Health at CHOP, continued: “For example, early prevention efforts could start with a pediatrician or housing counselor providing resources and social services referrals for families.”
Statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prove that physical child abuse has a lasting impact on the abused individual, but also on society. The results of which translate into a higher reliance on public assistance and social services, such as Medicaid and foster care, to more indirect costs that are linked to higher rates of criminal activity, substance abuse, domestic violence and mental illness.
Senior researcher, David Rubin, MD, MSCE, who is a Director of PolicyLab and an attending pediatrician at CHOP remarks:
“A study like this cannot tell us what stressors may be impacting an individual family, but can illustrate the toll that the recent recession may be having on families in general, in this country. It is a reminder to me that when I see families in my practice who have lost their insurance or who have changed homes, to probe a little further about the challenges they are facing. As communities, we all need to reach out a little more to identify which families may be in crisis and help guide them to appropriate resources for support.”
Written by Petra Rattue