The impact of 1 THE IMPACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION UPON FURTHER RISK OF CHILD MALTREATMENT

In families where child abuse and neglect exist it is possible that domestic violence is present as well. This study examined data collected from closed child protective services cases that had domestic violence issues identified. The sample size (n=50) in this study consisted of 50 of these cases. These cases were randomly selected from the ten counties of the Gateway/Buffalo Trace Service Region in the state of Kentucky. The cases were assigned to one of two groups. The treatment group consisted of cases that had domestic violence intervention. The cases that received no domestic violence intervention were assigned to the non-treatment group. The researchers hoped to show a correlation between domestic violence intervention and a lowered risk of child abuse. The researchers believed that those cases that do not receive domestic violence intervention would have a risk which remained the same or was higher, rather than lower. The researchers used a data collection instrument to collect demographic data as well as data that described what type of domestic violence intervention is used, if any. The researchers recorded risk assessment scores that were generated by the child protective service workers. The researchers recorded the initial risk score documented by the service workers as well as the final score. The researchers hoped to find that cases which received domestic violence intervention had lower final CQA scores than their initial CQA score.