Publication year: 2010
Source: Child Abuse & Neglect, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 27 October 2010
Elizabeth, Lightfoot , Katharine, Hill , Traci, LaLiberte
Objectives: All 50 states and the District of Columbia have statutes outlining the grounds for terminating parental rights (TPR) in relation to child abuse and neglect. Although recent research has found that parents with disabilities are not more likely to maltreat their children than parents without disabilities ([Glaun and Brown, 1999] and [Oyserman et al., 2000]), studies have found very high rates of TPR of parents with disabilities (Accardo & Whitman, 1989). The objective of this study is to examine how states are including disability in their TPR statutes. Methods: This study used legal document analysis, consisting of a comprehensive Boolean search of…