ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the effect a mother's age at the birth of her child has on the incidence of substantiated child abuse/neglect reports and on the rate of foster care placements during a child's early years. Although the human and financial costs of abuse and neglect investigations and foster care are significant and growing, little is known about the determinants of the events that lead children and families to these child welfare services. The Integrated Database is a unique state-level database that uses the computerized administrative data that contain demographic, family composition, case status, service status, outcomes, and cost information for the entire population of abuse/neglect cases and foster children between 1982 and 1994. The estimated annual reduction realized by delaying the age at first birth ranged from $150 million to $2.5 billion, depending on the extent of simulated delay in the age at first birth.
