Eradicating Child Maltreatment

Is it possible to overcome the enduring problem of child maltreatment? In Eradicating Child Maltreatment, leading international figures in the field of child welfare address this enduring and thorny question, setting out a public health approach to prevention. It draws on groundbreaking research and practice on prevention and early intervention from around the globe spanning health, social care, education and criminal justice. Contributors describe what is known about the incidence of child maltreatment, how far we have succeeded in eradicating it, which preventative strategies have been proven to be effective, and offers evidenced recommendations for policy and practice. Aiming to draw us nearer to the goal of a world free from child maltreatment first articulated by the visionary paediatrician Dr. C. Henry Kempe in 1978, this important book provides new insights for professionals, managers, academics and policymakers across the range of child and family welfare services.

Published in 2000. Child abuse is endemic, it comes in many forms and its categories are not closed. This book looks at responses to aspects of child abuse in all five continents. The definitions are different, though not all that different, the legal emphases vary and so do management techniques. This book reveals the importance of culture and structure in the commitment to eradicate the problem.

Recognizing child maltreatment as a complex phenomenon requiring multifaceted responses, this volume provides a current and comprehensive assessment of the problem, and argues for an expanded conception of helping on the part of those who work with maltreated children, their families, and their communities. Contributions follow a general outline that addresses current theory and models of practice, and empirical knowledge regarding the problem, intervention, and outcomes. Presenting and up-to- date and encompassing view of how to combat child abuse and neglect, this book discusses the concerns of service providers as well as academics. All the prevalent ways of responding to child maltreatment are addressed, and each is discussed in terms of theory, implementation and evidence for its effectiveness. For use as an undergraduate or graduate level text for courses in child welfare, sociology, family studies, and community psychology. This text would also be insightful for professionals, academics, and policymakers concerned with child welfare.

Describes the scope and causes of child abuse, examines current policies and laws, and offers a practical assessment of future strategies to end child abuse.

Get the tools to coordinate a plan in your community! The highly anticipated Ending Child Abuse: New Efforts in Prevention, Investigation, and Training presents an exciting vision: to end or significantly reduce child abuse. Respected social scientists and legal scholars discuss empirically sound short- and long- term multidisciplinary strategies that can be implemented in our society. Innovative and well-established concepts and approaches are clearly presented, such as specialized education, rational preventative methods, effective investigation and prosecution strategies, and the analysis of factors that influence law enforcement investigations and child abuse prevention efforts. Several obstacles stand in the way of the elimination of child abuse, such as the failure to investigate most child abuse reports, inadequate training of frontline child protection professionals, lack of financial resources, and the dilemma that child abuse is not addressed at the youngest ages. Ending Child Abuse: New Efforts in Prevention, Investigation, and Training tackles these problems and others with practical guidelines and aggressive creative strategies that can be applied to every community in the United States. This collection is impeccably referenced and soundly supported with research. Ending Child Abuse: New Efforts in Prevention, Investigation, and Training discusses: implementation of a model curriculum in child advocacy for undergraduate and graduate institutions forensic interview training extensive education of the nation’s child protection professionals development and funding of prevention programs at the community level educational reforms of Montclair State University in New Jersey designed to better prepare professionals who advocate for children research-based interview techniques with best practice guidelines possible broader social and system-level reforms vertical prosecution of child abuse cases—with a model for its operation Ending Child Abuse: New Efforts in Prevention, Investigation, and Training is an ambitious eye-opening source perfect for social services professionals, mental health professionals, practitioners, researchers, educators, students, and medical and legal professionals who deal with child abuse and children’s welfare.

Over forty contributors, including highly regarded researchers in the field, present the most recent findings on the impact of abuse and neglect on cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional development in children.

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.