Effects of in-person schooling on child safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to in-person schooling, which may have affected both the detection of child maltreatment and children's risk of injury.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the impact of returning to in-person schooling on child protective services (CPS) involvement and child injury during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PARTICIPANTS &

SETTING

We used linked administrative data from Wisconsin, covering school-aged children and their siblings (2019-2021). We estimated event study and difference-in-differences models at the child-quarter level.

METHODS

We use event study and difference-in-difference methods to estimate the effect of household-level exposure to any in-person instruction (hybrid or fully in-person) during the 2020-2021 academic year on CPS investigations and substantiations, and injury-related Medicaid claims, including a subset suggestive of maltreatment, controlling for child, maternal, and socioeconomic characteristics. Standard errors were clustered at the school district level.

RESULTS

CPS investigations increased following school reopening, predominantly due to reports from educational professionals, while substantiations did not show the same increase. Total injuries increased after reopening, but injuries suggestive of maltreatment showed no statistically significant change. These findings suggest the effects of school reopening were concentrated in surveillance mechanisms. Heterogeneity analyses indicated greater increases in CPS investigations among Black children, children of less educated mothers, and children in benefit-receiving households.

CONCLUSIONS

In-person schooling may enhance detection of maltreatment without increasing its underlying incidence. These results highlight the need for alternative child protection strategies during school closures and underscore the importance of distinguishing increased reporting from true changes in harm.