1 Staff Maltreatment in Residential Care for Children At-Risk: The Adolescents’ Perspective Dr. Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz School of Social Work and Social Welfare The Hebrew University of Jerusalem [email protected]ISCI 3 rd International Conference July, 2011, York, UK
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1 Staff Maltreatment in Residential Care for Children At-Risk: The Adolescents ’ Perspective Dr. Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz School of Social Work and Social.
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Every year between 7,000-8,000 young people live in out-of-home care
Due to historical and ideological reasons about 80% placed in RCSs.
Child Welfare Placement: Levels of Intensity of Care
25%
40%
30%
5%Educational
Rehabilatativ e
Therapeutic
Post-hospitalization
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Maltreatment of Children in Care:
Existing Knowledge
No hard data to indicate the extent of maltreatment
Few existing studies revealing a worrying picture: compared to the general population, children in care are significantly more involved in official child maltreatment reports and police investigations (e.g., Benedict, Zuravin, Brandt, &
Sample Characteristics (N = 1,324 adolescents in 32
RCSs)
Average age: 14.06 (SD = 3.11)
54% males
62% are rehabilitative
75% Jewish settings
The majority (60%) of the RCSs are group settings
Average number of children: 102 (SD = 24.18)
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Staff Verbal and Physical Maltreatment
Overall, 24.7% of the adolescents reported being victims of physical maltreatment by staff
One in three (29.1%) reported on verbal violence
Variance between Settings in Maltreatment
VariableProportion of variance between settings, ICC a
Physical maltreatment18.60%
Verbal maltreatment6.00%
a The interclass correlation (ICC) is calculated using the formula :variance between RCSs/(variance between + variance within).
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Findings: Adolescent-Level
Correlates
The most vulnerable adolescents:
Boys (physical maltreatment)
Adolescents reporting on higher levels of emotional symptoms and hyperactivity
Adolescents perceiving staff as stricter and less supportive
Adolescents reporting on negative perception of the RCS policy against violence
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Explained-Variance by Child-Level Characteristics
Child-level variables explained 16% of the variance within RCSs in physical and 15% in verbal maltreatment
Social climate of the setting explained the highest share of variance in verbal (11%) and physical (8%) maltreatment between the adolescents
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Setting-Level Correlates
The most “at-risk” institutions: Therapeutic settings (vs. rehabilitative) Arab RCS (physical maltreatment) Settings with larger numbers of children
(physical maltreatment)
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Explained-Variance between RCSs in Staff
Maltreatment
Setting-level variables explained 66.32% of the variance between RCSs in physical and 31.88% in verbal maltreatment
The largest share of variance between settings in physical maltreatment was explained by the cultural affiliation (45.01%)
The average perception of the RCS climate explained the highest share (31.88%) of variance between settings in verbal maltreatment
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Discussion
A need for an ecological perspective Worrying rates of staff maltreatment in
RCSs Identifying adolescent at-risk and “settings
at-risk” Adjustment difficulties Social climate and policy Arab RCSs
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Limitations and Recommendations for
Future Research
Cross-sectional design Adolescents as sole informants Explanatory variables not included Additional aspects of maltreatment A need for theoretical developments