Please cite this article in press as: Merritt, D. H., & Klein, S. Do early care and education services improve language development for maltreated children? Evidence from a national child welfare sample. Child Abuse & Neglect (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.10.011 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model CHIABU-2863; No. of Pages 12 Child Abuse & Neglect xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Child Abuse & Neglect Do early care and education services improve language development for maltreated children? Evidence from a national child welfare sample Darcey H. Merritt a,∗ , Sacha Klein b a New York University, Silver School of Social Work, 1 Washington Square North, New York, NY 10003, USA b Michigan State University, School of Social Work, 655 Auditorium Road, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 21 July 2014 Received in revised form 15 September 2014 Accepted 14 October 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Child abuse and neglect Child maltreatment Early care and education Language development Preschool a b s t r a c t Young children under 6 years old are over-represented in the U.S. child welfare system (CWS). Due to their exposure to early deprivation and trauma, they are also highly vulner- able to developmental problems, including language delays. High quality early care and education (ECE) programs (e.g. preschool, Head Start) can improve children’s development and so policymakers have begun calling for increased enrollment of CWS-supervised chil- dren in these programs. However, it is not a given that ECE will benefit all children who experience maltreatment. Some types of maltreatment may result in trauma-related learn- ing and behavior challenges or developmental deficits that cause children to respond to ECE settings differently. The current study uses data from a nationally representative survey of children in the U.S. child welfare system, the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well- Being II, to assess whether young CWS-supervised children (N = 1,652) who were enrolled in ECE had better language development outcomes 18 months later than those not enrolled in ECE. We also explore whether the type of maltreatment that brought children to the CWS’ attention moderates the relationship between ECE and children’s language develop- ment. After controlling for children’s initial scores on the Preschool Language Scale (PLS-3), type(s) of maltreatment experienced, and child and caregiver demographics, we found that ECE participation predicted better PLS-3 scores at follow-up, with a positive interaction between ECE participation and supervisory neglect. ECE seems to be beneficial for CWS- involved children’s early language development, especially for children referred to the CWS because they lack appropriate parent supervision at home. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction During the past two decades, the number of infants and young children entering the U.S. child welfare system (CWS) has swelled (Klein & Harden, 2011). Currently, children birth through five years old compose almost half (46.7%) of newly substantiated victims of child maltreatment in the U.S. and more than a third (38.4%) of all U.S. children in foster care (United States Department of Health and Human Services, USDHHS, 2013a, 2013b). ∗ Corresponding author. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.10.011 0145-2134/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.