Differences in patterns of maternal arrest and the parent, family, and child problems encountered in working with families

The information reported in this article is based on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW), a study of a representative sample of children who were subjects of reports of maltreatment. Details of mothers' arrest histories were used to group together mothers who shared similar arrest history characteristics. Three subgroups were identified: (1) mothers with dated arrest histories, (2) mothers with protracted arrest histories, and (3) mothers who were first arrested at a relatively late age. Analyses examined between-group differences in the child, parent, and family problems present in these families. Findings suggest that differences in mothers' arrest histories are associated with meaningfully different service needs. More generally, however, families in which mothers have been arrested have a greater number of service needs making them among the more complex cases confronting child protective service agencies.