Addressing the difference in rates of trauma among youth involved with in-home services compared to foster care
Analytics
56 views ◎28 downloads ⇓
Abstract
Childhood trauma has long-term effects on the physical and mental health of its victims. Given that the focus of the public health field is to create the healthiest communities possible, determining interventions to combat the effects of childhood trauma is of the utmost importance. Children who are involved with the child welfare system are at heightened risk for childhood trauma and the resulting impacts on their health. These system-involved children include both those who receive intervention services in their home and those who come into foster care. Research has not conclusively determined if, or how, these two "intervention groups" differ in regard to either traumatic experiences or trauma symptoms, information that can inform how best to allocate funding and other system resources (i.e., worker time, transportation, insurance) to screen for trauma, to make referrals for mental health assessments, and to ensure appropriate treatment for the children in care. Because policies vary dramatically from state to state, examining these groups in North Carolina serves as an important initial step in developing appropriate policies to keep the State’s most vulnerable population healthy. To that end, this study examined and compared potentially traumatic events and trauma symptoms among children (n = 1,210) involved in the child welfare system in three local Departments of Social Services. Secondary data from an initiative to build trauma-informed child welfare agencies and communities were analyzed, revealing that there are high rates of potentially traumatic events (M = 3.51; SD = 2.52) and trauma symptoms (M = 4.18; SD = 4.43) among both groups of system-involved youth (i.e., foster care, in-home services). In order to ensure appropriate allocation of resources, additional analyses were conducted to compare those children receiving foster care with those assigned to in-home services. More youth in foster care experienced potentially traumatic events (97.6%) and trauma symptoms (82.5%) than did those in in-home services (88.3% and 71.4%, respectively). There were statistically significant findings regarding higher prevalence of potentially traumatic events (X2 [2, N = 1,210] = 23.31, p<.001) and trauma symptoms (X2 [1, N = 1,184] = 14.67, p = .001) for those in foster care than those in in-home services. Even though the number of potentially traumatic events varied by less than one event between the foster care and in-home intervention groups, there was a statistically significant finding (t (1,179) = 6.76p < .000 that those in foster care experienced more potentially traumatic events than did those in in-home services. It is imperative to note that the rates are substantial for both groups regarding potentially traumatic events and trauma symptoms. Given those substantial rates, trauma responsive processes should be available for youth in both groups. These standardized processes should include screening for trauma, referring for a trauma-informed and evidence-based mental health assessment, and ensuring that treatment recommendations are followed, as well as providing appropriate the aforementioned resources, in order to ensure the long term health and well-being of system-involved youth given the pervasive trauma seen within this population.