Sacha Klein - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Sacha Klein

Child abuse & neglect, Jun 1, 2024

Children and Youth Services Review, 2003

Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2020

Foreign-born Latino/a immigrants currently make up 12.9% of the total U.S. population. Latino/a i... more Foreign-born Latino/a immigrants currently make up 12.9% of the total U.S. population. Latino/a immigrants continue to be exposed to widespread health and mental health care disparities. Scholarship focused on the needs of Latino/a immigrants continues to be characterized by multiple gaps. Latino/a immigrants and their families, particularly those with low family annual incomes, are exposed to multiple types of immigration-related stress. However, little is known about how immigration-related stress impacts couples. The objective of this investigation was to examine the interrelationship among acculturation and immigration-related stress as reported by a group of Latino/a immigrant parents who participated in a cultural adaptation parenting study. Data were provided by 78 two-parent families. The statistical approach consisted of latent growth curve analyses to examine rates of change over time. Findings indicated a potential protective role of biculturalism among Latino/a immigrant...

Journal of Public Child Welfare, 2019

This study explores how the geographic proximity of immigration support and parenting services af... more This study explores how the geographic proximity of immigration support and parenting services affect neighborhood rates of child maltreatment using administrative data from the U.S Census and child protective services. Spatial error regression results show that neighborhoods with proximal immigration support services have lower rates of child maltreatment, while neighborhoods with proximal parenting services have higher rates of child maltreatment. Additionally, neighborhoods with higher concentrations of Hispanic and poor residents have higher rates of child maltreatment, while neighborhoods with more White and Asian residents have lower rates of child maltreatment. This study suggests that immigration support services may be child maltreatment prevention resources.

The scope of child welfare work has broadened significantly over the past several decades, now in... more The scope of child welfare work has broadened significantly over the past several decades, now including goals focused on child wellbeing in addition to safety and permanency. Along with protecting children from maltreatment and finding them safe and stable homes, the child welfare system (CWS) is also responsible for improving supervised children's physical and mental health, development, and school performance. There is controversy over whether child welfare ought to remain focused on its original mission or encompass these broader mandates. Some argue that the CWS has yet to reliably fulfill its most basic functions of identifying maltreated children and removing them from harm's way, and thus, efforts should not expand to unproven prevention and early intervention strategies (Berrick, 2009). Moreover, child welfare workers often lack the clinical expertise to provide these enhanced services. Yet research suggests that the CWS routinely fails to ensure that the children it supervises receive needed physical, mental, and developmental services (Ringeisen, Casanueva, Cross, & Urato, 2009), making it guilty of neglecting the very children it is charged with protecting.One way that child welfare agencies can address these competing sets of concerns is to strengthen their partnerships with other organizations that share responsibility for improving the well-being of maltreated children. By collaborating with health, education, child care and development, and other service organizations, child welfare agencies help ensure that children under their supervision get support services that they need from professionals with the requisite skills, and also free their staff 's time to focus on child safety and permanency concerns.While all children in the U.S. child welfare system could likely benefit from enhanced service coordination, there may be a particular need for inter-agency collaborations focused on enhancing the well-being of maltreated infants and young children. During the past three decades, the child welfare system has become increasingly "infantilized" (Berrick, Needell, Barth, & Jonson-Reid, 1998), creating a strong need for developmentally sensitive or "infant-centered" services and policies (Harden, 2007). Children birth through five years old compose almost one-half (46.7%) of newly substantiated victims of child maltreatment in the U.S. and more than one-third (38.4%) of all U.S. children in foster care (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2013a, 2013b). Maltreatment severity and fatality are also highest among this age group because of their vulnerability and inability to protect themselves (USDHHS, 2005). As such, governmental entities are joining together to improve service delivery to better meet the needs of this vulnerable population (Selden, Sowa, & Sandfort, 2006), as extant research indicates that collaboration and streamlined resources can help improve psychosocial outcomes for children (Bai, Wells, & Hillemeier, 2009).Working across systems should result in both improvements in management and practice (Selden et al., 2006), but little is known about the structure of system and network ties in the ECCW service landscape. Toward this end, child welfare agencies increasingly rely on a network of "gateway providers" to other human services to help address multiple family needs (Kohl, Barth, Hazen, & Landsverk, 2005). Literature suggests that collaborating across service systems will help build community capacity through sharing information, streamlined processes, and bringing together providers with diverse skills and knowledge that may help achieve better outcomes compared with operating independently (Lasker, Weiss, & Miller, 2001; Provan, Leischow, Keagy, & Nodora, 2010). These claims are based on research on inter-agency collaborations in other service domains, however. To date, very little is known about the nature of ECCW collaborations and whether they produce similarly positive outcomes. …

Child abuse & neglect, 2015

Young children under 6 years old are over-represented in the U.S. child welfare system (CWS). Due... more Young children under 6 years old are over-represented in the U.S. child welfare system (CWS). Due to their exposure to early deprivation and trauma, they are also highly vulnerable to developmental problems, including language delays. High quality early care and education (ECE) programs (e.g. preschool, Head Start) can improve children's development and so policymakers have begun calling for increased enrollment of CWS-supervised children in these programs. However, it is not a given that ECE will benefit all children who experience maltreatment. Some types of maltreatment may result in trauma-related learning and behavior challenges or developmental deficits that cause children to respond to ECE settings differently. The current study uses data from a nationally representative survey of children in the U.S. child welfare system, the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II, to assess whether young CWS-supervised children (N=1,652) who were enrolled in ECE had bette...

Children and Youth Services Review, 2002

Children and Youth Services Review, 2014

Using U.S. Census and child maltreatment report data for 2052 Census tracts in Los Angeles County... more Using U.S. Census and child maltreatment report data for 2052 Census tracts in Los Angeles County, California, this study uses spatial regression techniques to explore the relationship between neighborhood social disorganization and maltreatment referral rates for Black, Hispanic and White children. Particular attention is paid to the racial-ethnic diversity (or 'heterogeneity') of neighborhood residents as a risk factor for child welfare system involvement, as social disorganization theory suggests that cultural differences and racism may decrease neighbors' social cohesion and capacity to enforce norms regarding acceptable parenting and this may, in turn, increase neighborhood rates of child maltreatment. Results from this study indicate that racial-ethnic diversity is a risk factor for child welfare involvement for all three groups of children studied, even after controlling for other indicators of social disorganization. Black, Hispanic and White children living in diverse neighborhoods are significantly more likely to be reported to Child Protective Services than children of the same race/ethnicity living in more homogeneous neighborhoods. However, the relationships between child welfare system involvement and the other indicators of social disorganization measured, specifically impoverishment, immigrant concentration child care burden, residential instability, and housing stress, varied considerably between Black, Hispanic and White children. For Black children, only housing stress predicted child maltreatment referral rates; whereas, neighborhood impoverishment, residential instability, and child care burden also predicted higher child maltreatment referral rates for Hispanic and White children. Immigrant concentration was unrelated to maltreatment referral rates for Black and Hispanic children, and predicted lower maltreatment referral rates for White children. Taken together, these findings suggest that racial-ethnic diversity may be one of the more reliable neighborhood-level demographic indicators of child welfare risk across different racial/ethnic groups of children. However, many of the other neighborhood characteristics that influence child maltreatment referrals differ for Black, Hispanic and White children. Consequently, neighborhood-based family support initiatives should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to child abuse prevention and strategically consider the racial/ethnic make-up of targeted communities.

Children and Youth Services Review, 2013

Reliable access to dependable, high quality childcare services is a vital concern for large numbe... more Reliable access to dependable, high quality childcare services is a vital concern for large numbers of American families. The childcare industry consists of private nonprofit, private for-profit, and governmental providers that differ along many dimensions, including quality, clientele served, and organizational stability. Nonprofit providers are theorized to provide higher quality services given comparative tax advantages, higher levels of consumer trust, and management by mission driven entrepreneurs. This study examines the influence of ownership structure, defined as nonprofit, forprofit sole proprietors, for-profit companies, and governmental centers, on organizational instability, defined as childcare center closures. Using a cross sectional data set of 15724 childcare licenses in California for 2007, we model the predicted closures of childcare centers as a function of ownership structure as well as center age and capacity. Findings indicate that for small centers (capacity of 30 or less) nonprofits are more likely to close, but for larger centers (capacity 30+) nonprofits are less likely to close. This suggests that the comparative advantages available for nonprofit organizations may be better utilized by larger centers than by small centers. We consider the implications of our findings for parents, practitioners, and social policy.

Children and Youth Services Review, 2000

Children Who Could Have Been provides a thoughtful but searing critique of the American public ch... more Children Who Could Have Been provides a thoughtful but searing critique of the American public child welfare system and the body of research that has shaped the policies and practices that characterize it. Epstein sets the censorious tone of his book with the opening statement: "Something wonderful has happened in the United States, but it is not the public system of child welfare services." Arguing that the system is woefully flawed and utterly ineffective in meeting the needs of its charges, he lays blame at the feet of the research community, parsimonious policy makers, and the indifference of the general public to the needs of maltreated children. In a society where compassion for needy children does not extend beyond taxpayers' pocketbooks, politicians are searching for cheap fixes to the complex problems of abuse and neglect. Hence, it is the academicians and researchers who produce findings in support of inexpensive interventions who advance their careers. Epstein contends, however, that studies justifying these cheap fixes are only produced at the expense of proper research design. After careful analysis of the seminal studies upon which the field is based, he concludes that the only defensible response to the needs of abused and neglected children is more intensive and enriching placements requiring greater generosity on the part of legislators and their constituents. The contents are presented in four sections, the first highlighting several of the flaws of the child welfare system as experienced by two children placed in out-of-home care in southern Nevada. Natalie and Adam, case composites created by Epstein, are not only victims of abusive and neglectful parents; they are also victims of an under-funded and misguided system of substitute care. Natalie's journey through placement takes her to two group homes, where residents are supervised by untrained, underpaid staff who routinely fail to get their charges to important medical and counseling appointments, monitor their academic performance, or intervene in their dangerous sexual behavior and drug use. The encouragement and nurture Natalie needs to heal from her abusive past is denied while immature and harsh childcare staff run the group homes like they are "gang

Child Abuse & Neglect, 2020

Background: Research has shown that problematic behaviors, such as violence and drug use, may spr... more Background: Research has shown that problematic behaviors, such as violence and drug use, may spread through shared physical space and social norms, lending rise to the notion of contagion theories of human behavior. Objective: This study examines whether physical child abuse spreads across time and space in a pattern reflective of a contagion model. Participants and Setting: This study uses 15 years of data from a large U.S. city police department. Data points are geo-located police-investigated physical child abuse incidents that occurred from 2001 to 2015. Methods: Police department data are combined with U.S. Census estimates of the number of child residents in each of the Census Tract comprising the study site to derive annual rates of policeinvestigated physical child abuse cases per 1000 children residing in each Census tract. A panel data spatial regression model is used to analyze the association between this dependent variable, the rate of police-investigated physical child abuse cases in surrounding Census tracts, and time. The analysis statistically controls for multiple covariates commonly associated with Census tractlevel estimates of child maltreatment, specifically household median income, residential instability, racial composition, population density, and the concentration of child residents. Results: The rate of physical child abuse in a Census tract is positively associated with the rate of physical child abuse in the surrounding Census tracts, net of the covariates and the effect of time (β = 0.461, p < .001). Conclusion: This finding provides preliminary evidence that physical child abuse, like some other problematic human behaviors, may spread spatially. 1. Introduction Child maltreatment is a major public health crisis in the U.S. In 2017, state Child Protection Services (CPS) agencies responded to maltreatment allegations regarding approximately 3.5 million children. More than 17 % were found to be substantiated victims of maltreatment, and 17 % of children with substantiated cases of maltreatment experienced physical child abuse (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; USDHHS, 2017). Research suggests that the annual statistics grossly underestimate the likelihood that any individual child will experience maltreatment. Using synthetic cohort analysis of a national data source, researchers estimated

Children and Youth Services Review, 2010

Children and Youth Services Review, 2011

Children and Youth Services Review, 2015

Emerging evidence suggests that high quality early care and education (ECE) programs can improve ... more Emerging evidence suggests that high quality early care and education (ECE) programs can improve children's developmental outcomes, particularly for at-risk children. Yet, ECE remains under-utilized by children in the child welfare system. This study illuminates some of the reasons for this by presenting findings from a series of ten focus groups with child welfare workers, ECE providers, and parents/caregivers of young children involved with the child welfare system (N = 78). Fourteen themes emerged regarding organizational and system-level barriers to enrolling children involved with the child welfare system in ECE. These include generic barriers to inter-agency collaboration in human services, such as challenging work climates characterized by limited resources, high workloads and staff turnover, and lack of guidelines for collaborative infrastructure. Findings more specific to inter-agency collaboration between child welfare and ECE include the disruptive effect of foster placement changes and case closures on ECE stability, policies restricting ECE eligibility and availability for birth and/or foster parents, and child welfare workers' limited understanding of the value of high quality, learning based ECE programs versus custodial child care, particularly for infants and toddlers. Policy and practice recommendations to improve ECE utilization and service coordination among child welfare and ECE organizations are discussed.

Children and Youth Services Review

Journal of Child and Family Studies

Research suggests that corporal punishment and growing up in socially disorganized neighborhoods ... more Research suggests that corporal punishment and growing up in socially disorganized neighborhoods may have differential effects on children of color compared to White children. We test this idea by employing multilevel models with interaction terms to examine whether the associations of perceived neighborhood collective efficacy and maternal corporal punishment with behavior problems at age 5 differed by race/ethnicity. The analytic sample consisted of 2388 White, Black, or Hispanic families in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Covariates at the individual child, parent, and neighborhood levels were included to account for the racial/ethnic differences in structural and socioeconomic factors. Results demonstrate that race/ethnicity does not moderate the associations of maternal corporal punishment with internalizing or externalizing behavior problems in early childhood, nor does race/ethnicity moderate the association between neighborhood collective efficacy and externalizing behavior. However, the significant interaction between neighborhood collective efficacy and Hispanic ethnicity suggests that the protective role of collective efficacy on internalizing behavior is more pronounced in Hispanic children than White children. Overall, these findings underline the importance of multilevel interventions that strengthen neighborhood collective efficacy, particularly for Hispanic children, and of interventions that discourage physical discipline practices for young children.

Journal of Family Violence

Past research links childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) to Post-Traumatic Stres... more Past research links childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with preliminary evidence that white children may be more traumatized by IPV exposure than African American children. Despite this, few studies have explored the moderating effect of race/ethnicity on children’s IPV exposure and subsequent trauma symptoms. Using a diverse sample of children in the U.S. child welfare system (n = 713) with high prevalence of IPV exposure, this study employs subpopulation analysis with multivariate regression to explore whether race/ethnicity moderates the relationship between IPV exposure and trauma symptoms, and whether differential predictors of trauma exist for white, African American, and Hispanic children exposed to IPV. Race/ethnicity moderates the relationship between childhood exposure to IPV and trauma, with Hispanic children exhibiting fewer trauma symptoms than white children as IPV exposure becomes more frequent. Differential predictors of trauma also emerged by child race/ethnicity. Caregiver’s depression predicted white and African American children’s trauma, while neighborhood quality predicted Hispanic children’s trauma. This study suggests that race/ethnicity correlates with different risk factors for child welfare-supervised children and, as such, should be considered when designing and implementing interventions for this population.

Child abuse & neglect, Jan 27, 2018

While corporal punishment is widely understood to have undesirable associations with children&#39... more While corporal punishment is widely understood to have undesirable associations with children's behavior problems, there remains controversy as to whether such effects are consistent across different racial or ethnic groups. We employed a Bayesian regression analysis, which allows for the estimation of both similarities and differences across groups, to study whether there are differences in the relationship of corporal punishment and children's behavior problems using a diverse, urban sample of U.S. families (n = 2653). There is some moderation of the relationship between corporal punishment and child behavior by race or ethnicity. However, corporal punishment is associated with increases in behavior problems for all children. Thus, our findings add evidence from a new analytical lens that corporal punishment is consistently linked to increased externalizing behavior across African American, White, or Hispanic children, even after earlier externalizing behavior is controlle...