Background
The Children’s Cabinet approved the following recommendation on June 4, 2020:
A pilot study should be initiated to link Early Childhood Block Grant data to Department of Children and Families data. This pilot study would serve two purposes: it would use existing data in a novel way to answer a critical question about the impact of services on family well-being, and it would also serve as an opportunity to pilot secure data sharing across agencies.
Purpose
The purpose of this pilot study is to investigate whether participation in early childhood programming> funded by the Cabinet (Early Childhood Block Grant, Community Based Child Abuse Prevention) is associated with a reduction in child maltreatment reports and removal into foster care.
Why now
In times of crisis, it is critical to identify the potential for early childhood services to act as a first line of prevention for child maltreatment.
There are many reasons to anticipate that the COVID-19 crisis will cause an increase in child maltreatment, including widespread economic hardship and the closing of schools and other services which have traditionally served an important role in ensuring children’s physical and social well-being. At the same time, reported maltreatment rates may be lower given COVID-19’s disruptive effects on traditional mandated reporting avenues.
Kansas has invested in prevention programming through Families First and Family Preservation Services with a common goal that no children will experience maltreatment. The Cabinet’s own historical portfolio of funded early childhood programming is in alignment with these services.
Now is the time to analyze whether those investments in early childhood programming have led to a reduction in reported child maltreatment and removals into foster care. This allows Kansas to prepare for a more informed future of what works to help ever
