Are In-Home and Foster Care Services Associated With Risk of Maltreatment-Related Fatality and Near Fatality Following a Child Protection Case? Evidence From Pennsylvania.

Using a nested case-control design and linked administrative data from Pennsylvania, this study examined how in-home services and foster care following an initial child welfare system case were associated with the odds of future child maltreatment fatalities and CMNFs (n = 171 cases and 777 controls).

Relative to receiving no services, in-home services were not associated with reduced odds of child maltreatment fatalities/CMNF (OR = 1.27, p = 0.201), whereas foster care was associated with lower odds (OR = 0.54, p = 0.061), though this association did not reach statistical significance at p < .05.