Neglected Children

This widely used guidebook and text combines theory, research, and practical clinical strategies. Provided is a thoughtful framework for understanding the developmental impact of maltreatment; assessing the unique needs of each child and family; building a strong therapeutic relationship; and implementing a variety of effective interventions.

Practical solutions for difficult clinical situations! With many chapters written by some of the field's best known contributors, this handbook was developed for the practitioner who wants practical and effective guidance for helping abused children. Each major area of clinical practice is discussed by experienced professionals, providing you with new insights and ideas regarding: medical findings; clinical assessment; individual, group, and family therapy; testifying in court; the role of medication in treatment, and much more. To make the application from the written page to your practice even more compelling, every clinical chapter is followed by a patient vignette that demonstrates how the principles just described can be successfully applied in the working world of therapists. Whether abused children number only a few or many on your caseload, this is a handbook to which you will often refer over the years. The Handbook for the Treatment of Abused and Neglected Children pulls together a wide range of practical information for therapists on how to effectively work with abused and neglected children. Unlike other volumes on the subject, this book puts the information in context, with a ’big picture’ overview of how the therapist fits into the larger system into which the child has been swept up—Child Protective Services, legal proceedings, medical issues, disputes regarding custody, etc. Inside, you’ll find effective strategies for: conducting individual therapy with abused children—how to begin therapy, identify distortions, effectively challenge ingrained patterns of behavior, and constructively bring therapy to a close navigating the maze of Child Protective Services—knowing what resources are available, what obstacles are likely to arise, and how to work with social workers understanding the medical findings of maltreated children—how information from a child’s physician can provide critical insights into the child’s experience, and often into children’s expectations of future relationships testifying in court as a therapist—how the court works and how to prepare to give effective testimony facilitating parent interventions—how to help mothers and fathers develop relationships with their children to the fullest and nurture each child’s potential as his or her personality develops The Handbook for the Treatment of Abused and Neglected Children will prove valuable for students and educators as well as novice and experienced therapists. Whether you see children only occasionally or focus your practice on maltreated children, this one-of-a-kind resource deserves a place in your professional collection.

Research in child abuse has expanded dramatically since the first controlled studies were started in the mid-1970s. The fields of developmental psychology and clinical child psychology have progressed in tandem, resulting in theoretical richness and increased methodological sophistication. With these advances, it is now commonly recognized that child abuse and neglect can be fully understood only through the use of longitudinal research methods --difficult, expensive, and time-consuming though their application may be. THE EFFECTS OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT reviews the findings from current longitudinal research and also serves as an authoritative guide to the complex methodologic issues involved in conducting such studies. The book's introductory chapter examines the intergenerational transmission of abusive behavior and its adult sequelae. In-depth analyses of three innovative longitudinal investigations follow: the first focuses on the value of an at-risk approach to research in this area; the second evaluates structural equations modeling, a relatively new statistical method; and the third demonstrates the usefulness of a transactional approach to the longitudinal study of different forms of maltreatment. Other contributions focus specifically on the interpretation of existing research and on conducting future studies. Provocative discussions on crucial definitional issues are complemented by equally trenchant analyses of as-yet unresolved design considerations. The remaining chapters deal with basic measurement issues, especially the assessment of parental personality and psychopathology, psychological abuse, parental childrearing belief systems, parent-child attachment and other domains of parent-child interaction, and the impact of maltreatment on physical and emotional development. An effective synthesis of practical and research issues, THE EFFECTS OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT is essential reading for all child development, psychiatry, child psychiatry, family sociology, social work, pediatric, nursing, and other human services professionals responsible for recognizing, treating, and preventing child abuse as well as for ameliorating its long-term consequences.

Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves -- they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains--including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems--and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response.

This book contains a comprehensive review of the current state of child neglect. Included are statistics regarding incidence and lethality, definitional issues, etiological theory, history of and current policy, and current interventions. As child neglect is often linked with structural issues, the book also examines the relationship of child neglect to poverty, substance abuse and culture.

"Treatment of Abused and Neglected Children" is one in a series of manuals based on the Federal Standards for Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Treatment Programs and Projects. This manual brings together current knowledge about the needs of abused and neglected children with some practical ideas and explanations of what can be done to meet those needs. It is hoped that with this information, identification and treatment planning for maltreated children will be more efficient and effective. The manual is designed primarily for use by CPS workers, but may also be used by other professionals dealing with child abuse and neglect.

This book addresses an urgent need to ensure that social care interventions provide better long term outcomes for neglected children across services.