In California, 1 of every 7 children is reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) by 5 years of age. A disproportionate percentage of CPS-involved children exhibit developmental concerns, making contact with CPS an important opportunity to address the needs of children at risk for poor development. While policies rightly emphasize developmental assessments for the minority of CPS-involved children with a case opened for services or placed in out-of-home care, concern remains for the large unmet developmental needs among the broader population of reported children. Using newly linked and de-identified California birth, child protection and developmental services records, this project aims to highlight characteristics of young children born in California who are referred for early intervention services and examine how they vary by type of CPS involvement.
