Combatting Child Abuse

Many countries are struggling with issues involving the definition of child maltreatment, reporting requirements, processes for responding to reports, and services to abused children and their families. This book illustrates approaches to dealing with these problems by examining and comparing the designs of child abuse systems.

"When we think of child abuse, we imagine several different forms of harmful parenting and injuries to children. Most are not visible to the naked eye, but can be seen if you look more deeply. X-rays can detect fractures and other imaging can find internal injury and bleeding, but most maltreated children have more long-lasting harm that reveals itself through behavioral and emotional maladjustment, developmental delay, sadness, and other destructive behaviors later in childhood, adolescence and into adulthood. These injuries to their personality, sense of self, relationship to society and mental health change the trajectory of their lives and dim their potential, with social and financial costs for safety, treatment and their lost personal growth. We think of these as affecting everybody's children and that the responsibility lies with everyone to respond. This is why we put together this book: to address prevention from a number of perspectives and a variety of professions. We hope that it successfully brings together a number of disciplines and perspectives to address child abuse and neglect among the world's families, governments and cultures. We hope that those reading these chapters will realize that there are replicable best practices that can be reliably implemented based on child and family experiences and needs rather than single approaches designed to attack single forms of maltreatment, and we look forward to the day that books like these are not needed"--

The problem of child abuse has become increasingly evident in North America and Western Europe. Many countries are now struggling with issues involving the definition of child maltreatment, reporting requirements, processes for responding to reports, substantiation rates, and services to abused children and their families. This book illustrates alternative approaches to dealing with these problems by examining and comparing the designs of child abuse systems in nine countries: the US, English, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Belgium, and Sweden.

This thought-provoking volume defines child abuse and neglect as a public health crisis, both in terms of injuries and mental health problems and as a link to poverty and other negative social outcomes. The author identifies key factors contributing to this situation—in particular juvenile ageism, the pervasive othering of children and youth—coupled with the assumption of parental competence until severe abuse or neglect proves otherwise. The book’s practical answers to these complex issues involve recognizing and balancing the rights of parents and children, and responding to the diverse needs of new, competent, and dysfunctional families. To this end, a comprehensive prevention model is outlined, featuring primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions. Included in the coverage: • Child abuse and neglect in the United States • The impact of juvenile ageism on individuals • The devaluation of parenthood • The rights and needs of newborn babies and young children • Overcoming our crisis-recoil response • Barriers to change and hope for the future Dealing with Child Abuse and Neglect as Public Health Problems should engage professionals in the public health, healthcare, and social services sectors. It should also attract parents in struggling families as well as other laypersons, such as policymakers and child advocates, interested in improving current social conditions.

Deals with the promotion of emotional well-being in families, and the prevention of child maltreatment. Values, policies and resources are examined as both facilitators of, and barriers to, effective action.

Public policy responses to child sexual abuse are dominated by interventions designed to take effect only after offenders have already begun offending, and after children have already been sexually abused. Comparatively little attention has been given to alternative prevention strategies – particularly to those aimed at preventing sexual abuse before it might otherwise occur. Considerable knowledge has been accumulated on the characteristics, modus operandi and persistence of offenders, the characteristics, circumstances and outcomes for victims, and the physical and social settings in which sexual abuse occurs, but little work has been done to systematically apply this knowledge to prevention. This book aims to fulfill this objective through integrating clinical and criminological concepts and knowledge to inform a more comprehensive and effective public policy approach to preventing child sexual abuse. Empirical and theoretical knowledge concerning child sexual abuse is integrated with broader developments in evidence-based crime and child maltreatment prevention, leading to new ideas about understanding and preventing child sexual abuse. This book will be essential reading for anybody with interests in this field.

This work deals with the issues surrounding child sexual abuse, and is aimed at practitioners in social work, psychology and medicine, students in professional fields and researchers.

Public policy responses to child sexual abuse are dominated by interventions designed to take effect only after offenders have already begun offending, and after children have already been sexually abused. Comparatively little attention has been given to alternative prevention strategies – particularly to those aimed at preventing sexual abuse before it might otherwise occur. Considerable knowledge has been accumulated on the characteristics, modus operandi and persistence of offenders, the characteristics, circumstances and outcomes for victims, and the physical and social settings in which sexual abuse occurs, but little work has been done to systematically apply this knowledge to prevention. This book aims to fulfill this objective through integrating clinical and criminological concepts and knowledge to inform a more comprehensive and effective public policy approach to preventing child sexual abuse. Empirical and theoretical knowledge concerning child sexual abuse is integrated with broader developments in evidence-based crime and child maltreatment prevention, leading to new ideas about understanding and preventing child sexual abuse. This book will be essential reading for anybody with interests in this field.