"Financial and Family Stress Linked to Child Maltreatment in Rural Areas"

The research brief finds that rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) are more likely than those reported in urban areas to experience high family stress and financial difficulties. Rural children referred to CPS are also more likely than urban children to live in a single parent home.

According to the brief, in both urban and rural areas, nearly 40 percent of children who are reported to CPS live in poverty, and roughly half have a caregiver with mental health issues. Families reported to CPS also report low levels of social support. Those living in rural areas may have less access to services designed to help cope with situations that may lead to child maltreatment, so policies must be designed to address this.

The brief is based on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, (NSCAW), a nationally representative sample of children who had a maltreatment report that resulted in a child welfare investigation.

Read the report.