Citation

Rebbe R. Child Maltreat. 2018; 23(3): 303-315.

Affiliation

School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559518767337

PMID

29642706

Abstract

Neglect is the most common form of reported child maltreatment in the United States with 75.3% of confirmed child maltreatment victims in 2015 neglected. Despite constituting the majority of reported child maltreatment cases and victims, neglect still lacks a standard definition. In the United States, congruent with the pervasiveness of law in child welfare systems, every state and the District of Columbia has its own statutory definition of neglect. This study used content analysis to compare state legal statutory definitions with the Fourth National Incidence Survey (NIS-4) operationalization of neglect. The resulting data set was then analyzed using cluster analysis, resulting in the identification of three distinct groups of states based on how they define neglect: minimal, cornerstones, and expanded. The states' definitions incorporate few of the NIS-4 components. Practice and policy implications of these constructions of neglect definitions are discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

child welfare services/child protection; definitional issues; legal definition; neglect