Thinking Holistically: Does the U.S. State Safety Net Support Prevent Child Maltreatment?

Background: The consequences of maltreatment are detrimental, increasing risk for mental health challenges, substance abuse, criminal and delinquent behavior, and health and economic well-being (e.g., Currie & Tekin, 2012; Herrenkohl et al., 2013; Mersky & Topitzes, 2010). Prior studies show that policies strengthening families’ economic well-being can help reduce child maltreatment and child protective services (CPS) involvement. However, very little research on CPS involvement has examined multiple programs holistically or accounted for cross-state differences in generosity and inclusivity across the range of programs that constitute the U.S. safety net (Puls et al., 2021), which is a decentralized, fragmented, and patchwork system. This study addresses this gap by examining the association between total state safety net support and CPS investigation rates at the population level, overall and by race and ethnicity, given well-documented racial ethnic disparities in CPS involvement (Edwards et al., 2021). We consider nine major safety net policies, for which states have substantial discretion in setting eligibility rules, benefit levels, financing, or administration.

Methods: We draw administrative data from the 2004-2019 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System child file. We link this data to a unique state-year dataset that captures the inclusivity (the likelihood of receiving a program among the potentially needy family) and generosity (expenditures or benefit amount per recipient) of each safety net program (Bruch et al., 2018; Bruch, Meyers, & Gornick, 2023). We use this information to construct a measure that reflects the overall supportiveness of the state safety net package – i.e., the average program generosity one would expect for a potentially needy family – in each state and year. By employing two-way (state and year) fixed-effects models, we leverage within-state temporal variation in total safety net support to examine its association with changes in CPS investigation rates.

Results: We find that a $1000 increase in total state safety net support is associated with a 4 percent decline in CPS investigations (relative to the outcome mean) among children of all ages and those under age 5, with similar associations for neglect and physical abuse investigations. Estimates are comparable across racial-ethnic groups, although estimated magnitudes are slightly larger for Black non-Hispanic children under age five. Supplementary analyses suggest that cash or near-cash support may reduce CPS involvement to a greater extent than in-kind support. Given that cash or near-cash benefits may more directly alleviate economic hardship than in-kind benefits, the stronger role of cash or near-cash support is consistent with the income pathway serving as a key mechanism linking total safety net support to CPS involvement, although our analysis provides only suggestive evidence on mechanisms.

Discussion. This study contributes to a broader understanding of benefits associated with states’ investments in the social safety net and offers timely implications for state policymaking debates. Findings suggest expanding the generosity and inclusion of economic support programs—through state policy changes that may be more politically feasible than federal policy changes—may help reduce the risk of CPS involvement, with potential short- and long-term benefits for children’s health and well-being.