Date of Conferral

4-30-2025

Date of Award

April 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Human Services

Advisor

Kelly Chermack

Abstract

Abuse against children is an issue in the United States. The effects of being abused can follow children into adulthood. There is little to no research on the effects of adult's ability to trust others due to their chronic involvement with child protective services (CPS) as children. If an individual lacks trust, other issues can arise. Freud's psychodynamic theory served as the theoretical framework for this study. A generic qualitative approach was used to address the following research question: What are adults' perceptions and experiences regarding their ability to trust others later in life after chronic involvement with CPS as children? Semistructured interviews with 10 participants were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Six themes emerged: participants have emotional responses regarding their involvement with cps, participants have become socially isolated regarding their involvement with cps, participants have experienced child abuse or neglect, participants have been driven to learn and take on challenges, child welfare workers lack important values, and the removal of children leads to distrust. The findings can be used for future research and has extended the knowledge in this area. The study's findings could provide an understanding of how to deal with children involved with CPS. The positive social change implications may include (a) changing how we build trust with children during interviews to ensure an honest conversation; (b) learning the effects of chronic CPS involvement to help children overcome those effects; and (c) decreasing the rate of intergenerational CPS history.

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