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Special Education Services for Children Involved with Child Welfare/Child Protective Services

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Abstract

This paper examines educational and behavioral characteristics and special education service use for a subsample of 2477 children enrolled in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (NSCAW), the first national, longitudinal study of youth following investigation for alleged maltreatment through the child welfare system (CW). Almost one-fifth of children were characterized as severe on educational indices and 47% as severe on behavioral indices. Nineteen percent were currently receiving special education services, 17% had previously received these services, and the remainder had never received them. Over half (51%) of children characterized as severe on educational or behavioral indices were not receiving special education services. Caregivers indicated that youth were being served primarily under categories of Emotional Disturbance (35%) and Speech and Language Impairment (30%). Further exploration of the role of schools, particularly school psychologists, in providing supports for children involved with CW is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling & School Psychology (CSP), San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182-1179, USA

    Katina M. Lambros

  2. Public Consulting Group 1, 48 State Street, 10th Floor, Boston, MA, 02109, USA

    Maia Hurley

  3. Child & Adolescent Services Research Center (CASRC), 3020 Children’s Way MC 5033, San Diego, CA, 92123, USA

    Michael Hurlburt & Jinjin Zhang

  4. Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts Medical Center, 800 Washington Street, MC #345, Boston, MA, 02111, USA

    Laurel K. Leslie

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  1. Katina M. Lambros
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Correspondence to Katina M. Lambros.

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Lambros, K.M., Hurley, M., Hurlburt, M. et al. Special Education Services for Children Involved with Child Welfare/Child Protective Services. School Mental Health 2, 177–191 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-010-9026-5

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