The Lab’s research activities follow three lines of investigation. Line 1 involves developing instruments of measure (e.g., Q-TOP/ETRAD-Q) and participating in the updating of extant instruments used in clinical practice (e.g., RADA interview, R-PAS, Roberts-2) and in research (e.g., EMMCS). Ultimately, we wish to contribute to the improvement of practices in the fields of psychological assessment and tools for researching mental health and maltreatment. The aim of Line 2 is to gain a better understanding of the role of different risk factors, including dimensions of maltreatment and parental behaviours, in the emergence of certain mental disorders, such as trauma- and stressor-related disorders (see the DSM-5), and to investigate the prevalence of mental and neurodevelopmental disorders among children in CPS care. Line 3 focuses on CPS decision making (e.g., parenting capacity assessments) and CPS outcomes, including the prevalence and predictors of re-reporting of closed cases, re-placement following family reunification breakdown, and foster care placement breakdown.

The undergraduates, doctoral students and research interns in our team contribute to the Lab’s work. Our research projects combine administrative data, caseworker report data, data collected with psychometric instruments (questionnaires, standardized interviews, and standardized tests administered directly to children) in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of CPS children, their environments, and their lived experiences. The Lab’s work has an impact on the professional practices of caseworkers and clinicians working with service users, as well as researchers in the field of child mental health and maltreatment.