Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mandated Reporting And Its Effects On The Rate Of Reported And Substantiated Child Abuse, Taylor Johnston

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

State-level data on the rate of reported abuse per 1,000 children, as published in the Children’s Bureau’s Annual Child Maltreatment Report, has been used as a metric to rank and compare states’ performance in child welfare. States wish to understand what the rate of reported abuse per 1,000 children means, what state-specific policies and issues can affect this number, and how to interpret the data to make effective policy decisions. This paper studies the effects of having mandated reporting laws that require all citizens to report reasonable suspicion of abuse to Child Protective Services on a state’s rate of reported …

Outcome Evaluation Of The Center For Women, Children And Families' Parenting Program, Elena Buzarnescu

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The evaluation of family support programs employing parent education to achieve prevention of child abuse and neglect is an important consideration for professionals as it can provide a good insight into possible improvements of a program.

A parent education program administered by the Center for Women, Children and Families (CWCF) was assessed using participants’ pre- and post-program scores on the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) from 148 parents.

Statistical analysis indicated that parenting knowledge has significantly improved on all five dimensions measured following program attendance. This finding supported the answer to the first research question. To answer the second research question, …