The 2021 expansion of the federal child tax credit-a partially refundable credit to tax-filing parents typically delivered as a lump-sum payment via a tax refund-helped reduce child abuse and neglect, according to a study published in the February JAMA Network Open.

The study assessed the link between unconditional payments such as the tax credit and changes in child abuse and neglect using data from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's patient medical record reviews from July through December of 2018, 2019, and 2021. The methodology took into account a provision of the expansion that made the tax refunds immediately available to eligible families via monthly payments of up to $300 per child.

Results showed that child abuse and neglect-related ED visits to Children's Healthcare temporarily declined in the days following the monthly payments compared with similar periods in years with no such payments. Specifically, the authors found that in the four days following payments, the hospital system saw 1.13 fewer daily cases of child abuse and neglect than in the two weeks before payments. During the same periods when there were no payments (in 2018 and 2019), cases rose by 0.65 per day. After the four days following tax credit payments, abuse and neglect cases returned to prepayment levels. However, reductions in abuse and neglect cases were also found in the final three months of the six-month program, potentially because of the cumulative effects of the payments.

Prior research has shown that the 2021 expansion of the federal child tax credit significantly reduced childhood poverty and hunger and helped families with their finances. The current study is the first to link the credits with a decrease in abuse and neglect.

These findings have important implications for policymaking, and the benefits of unconditional payment programs and other "antipoverty policy" should be considered when decisions on these programs are made, according to the authors.-Amy M. Collins, managing editor