Unconditional Cash Transfers and Child Maltreatment

Psychosocial interventions have proven effective in reducing child abuse, but they have been less effective at reducing child neglect. These disparate impacts may be because neglect is primarily rooted in economic hardship rather than psychopathology. In this study, Schneider and colleagues will test whether improving families’ material conditions through cash transfers can help prevent instances of child maltreatment by increasing their ability to provide safe and consistent care. Through a randomized controlled trial, half of the study’s participants will receive a monthly cash gift, to be spent without restrictions, over the course of one year. The remaining families will continue to receive services as usual, with no cash transfers. The team will link families to administrative child welfare data and examine whether treatment group families are less likely to be re-referred to DCFS 3, 6, and 12 months post-randomization. They will also conduct qualitative interviews to better understand processes through which the experiment may affect participants’ parenting and how the cash transfers are used.