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In Reply to: Re: TF on bedwetting etc. posted by Farmer on January 31, 2008 at 15:27:03:
Poverty is a huge predictor of child maltreatment. A lot of Family members live hand to mouth and the educational acheivement for many of the kids isn't much different than what we see among inner city kids.
Transience is another major predictor of child maltreatment. There's a very high level of transience (moving around) among poor people in the US. Family members also move around a lot.
When I say stuff like "predictor of abuse," I'm saying this: The probability of child maltreatment is much, much higher if a family is poor and moves around a lot than if the family is better off and has a stable living situation. The moving around thing is a particularly important factor in predicting the occurrence of maltreatment. If we look at low-income neighborhoods where families are constantly moving in and out, we see that these areas of a census tract have a much higher frequency of police reports for domestic violence and child abuse than similar low income neighborhoods where there is greater housing stability and community cohesion.
It would be a good thing if TFI homes became rooted in the community and the families lived in one place for years at a time. A lot of the social isolation that puts TFI kids at such high risk is due to frequent moves and constant change in a home's membership.
