2011 The Palm Beach County Family Study (Full Report)

We found that in years 2 and 3, after controlling for other factors, receipt of treatment services wasassociated with a statistically significant increase in the number of areas in which mothers reportedreceiving assistance. However, we did not find a statistically significant relationship between receipt oftreatment services and use of other services in year 4. When we repeated the analysis for year 5, we againfound a significant relationship between receipt of treatment services and use of other services.We also found that, in year 2, mothers who had received MCHP treatment services were significantlymore likely to report receiving help with child development in the 12 months preceding the survey. Inyear 3, mothers who had received MCHP treatment services were significantly more likely to reportreceiving help with family planning, child development, and parenting information in the 12 monthspreceding the survey. Finally, in year 5, mothers who had received MCHP treatment services weresignificantly more likely to report receiving help with dental care, paying rent or bills, and mental healthservices; however, the latter two results are only significant at the 10 percent level.We cannot rule out the possibility that at least some of the increased assistance in years 2, 3, and 5associated with MCHP treatment services may be due to reporting error on the part of mothers. We arefairly certain, however, that the relationship between MCHP treatment and receipt of other services is notdue to mothers reporting MCHP treatment services for subsequent children.Finally, we found little evidence of a relationship between the number of days of treatment servicesreceived by a mother and the number of other service areas in which she reported receiving assistance.We also did not find any evidence of a relationship between receiving intensive care coordination (asopposed to basic care coordination) or one or more referrals, and the number of areas in which mothersreceived assistance.Overall, it appears likely that the MCHP system is successful in linking mothers, either directly orindirectly, with other services and supports in the community. This is an important role for the system toplay, since the majority of mothers did not receive MCHP treatment services after their children were 6months old. To the extent that receipt of MCHP treatment services connected mothers to other servicesand supports, they and their children may have indirectly benefited from the MCHP system over a longerperiod of time. In the next chapter, we look at whether families and children who received other servicesand supports are better off than those who did not.SummaryA large majority of mothers who gave birth in 2004–2005—73 percent of the county cohort and 81percent of the TGA cohort—were screened. About a third of the county cohort were designated to be “atChapin Hall at the University of Chicago 103