Examining Child Welfare Outcomes for Asian-Canadian Children and Families: A Mixed Methods Stud

This three-paper dissertation triangulated three different data sources using mixed methods to build a comprehensive understanding of Asian-Canadian households involved in the child welfare system at the national and local levels. The first paper used a mixed method approach to build a descriptive profile of Asian-Canadian households involved in the child welfare system. The results from secondary data analysis using the 2008 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2008) indicated substantive differences between Asian-Canadian and White-Canadian households investigated by child welfare agencies. These results were presented to focus groups consisting of child protection workers and community service providers, eliciting practice insights and improved understanding of child welfare decision-making. The second paper compared child maltreatment investigations in the CIS-2008 to Canadian Census child population data. The study found that Asian-Canadian households were under-represented in the child welfare system and had almost two times the odds of case closure after an investigation compared to White-Canadian households. Three different disparity indexes were used in the analyses: population-based, decision-based, and maltreatment-based. The results demonstrated the need for greater clarity and consistency in the definitions and methodology for examining racial disparity in child welfare research. The third paper used administrative child welfare data from the Ontario Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (OCANDS) to examine the decision to close after investigation rather than transfer to ongoing child protection services (CPS). Compared to White-Canadian households involved in the child welfare system, Asian-Canadian households received ongoing CPS for over a month longer and were almost half as likely to be re-investigated within one year after case closure. This suggests that child protection investigations involving Asian-Canadian households may not be closed prematurely, but rather, provided the necessary intervention. Together, the three papers examine the profile of Asian-Canadian households in the child welfare system as well as child welfare decision patterns and services provided to this group. The discussion section for each paper and the dissertation's conclusion summarizes the study results, limitations, and implications for social work and child welfare research, theory and practices.