The causal impact of removing children from abusive and neglectful homes

Anthony Bald (), Eric Chyn, Justine Hastings () and Margarita Machelett
Additional contact information
Anthony Bald: Harvard University and RIPL
Justine Hastings: Brown University, RIPL and NBER

No 2126, Working Papers from Banco de España

Abstract: This paper measures impacts of removing children from families investigated for abuse or neglect. We use removal tendencies of child protection investigators as an instrument. We focus on young children investigated before age six and find that removal significantly increases test scores and reduces grade repetition for girls. There are no detectable impacts for boys. This pattern of results does not appear to be driven by heterogeneity in pre-removal characteristics, foster placements, or the type of schools attended after removal. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that development of abused and neglected girls is more responsive to home removal.

Keywords: foster care; educational attainment; early intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 I21 I24 I28 I38 J12 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 111 pages
Date: 2021-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-isf and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicac ... 21/Files/dt2126e.pdf First version, August 2021 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Causal Impact of Removing Children from Abusive and Neglectful Homes (2022)
Working Paper: The Causal Impact of Removing Children from Abusive and Neglectful Homes (2019)
Working Paper: The Causal Impact of Removing Children from Abusive and Neglectful Homes (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bde:wpaper:2126

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