While most people in financial need do not maltreat their children, poverty can increase the likelihood of maltreatment, particularly when poverty is combined with other risk factors, such as depression, substance use, and social isolation.
Caution! Men Not at Work: Gender-Specific Labor Market Conditions and Child Maltreatment
Lindo, Schaller, & Hansen (2013)
National Bureau of Economic Research
Examines the effect of labor market conditions on rates of child maltreatment. The authors present analyses by overall labor market conditions and by gender.
Families at the Nexus of Housing and Child Welfare (PDF - 229 KB)
Dworsky (2014)
First Focus & State Policy Advocacy & Reform Center
Summarizes research on the relationship between housing instability and higher rates of child welfare system involvement. The issue brief also describes the use of housing interventions to reduce families' involvement with the child welfare system, the policy and practice implications of the relationship, and the potential interventions.
Home Foreclosure and Child Protective Services Involvement
Berger, Collins, Font, Gjertson, Slack, & Smeeding (2015)
Pediatrics, 136(2)
Examines whether there was a correlation between home foreclosure filings and the risk of child protective services (CPS) involvement in Wisconsin between 2008 and 2011. The researchers find that home foreclosure filing substantially increases CPS involvement, especially in both the year prior to foreclosure filing and the period shortly after the filing.
Income Inequality and Child Maltreatment in the United States
Eckenrode, Smith, McCarthy, & Dineen (2014)
Pediatrics, 133(3)
Examines county-level data on income inequality and rates of child maltreatment and finds a statistically significant relationship between higher rates of income inequality and higher rates of child maltreatment.
Prevent, Protect & Provide: How Child Welfare Can Better Support Low-Income Families
Martin & Citrin (2014)
Center for the Study of Social Policy
Presents strategies child welfare systems can use to support the economic needs of families at risk of child welfare involvement.