Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511500114.013

13 - Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2009

Mia McFarlane ,

Howard J. Doueck and

Murray Levine

Edited by

Bette L. Bottoms ,

Margaret Bull Kovera and

Bradley D. McAuliff

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Mia McFarlane: Affiliation:
Attorney Children's Legal Center in Buffalo, New York
Howard J. Doueck: Affiliation:
Professor of Social Work, Director of the doctorate program, and Chair of the Children and Youth concentration State University of New York at Buffalo
Murray Levine: Affiliation:
Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology and Adjunct Professor of Law State University of New York at Buffalo
Bette L. Bottoms: Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Margaret Bull Kovera: Affiliation:
Florida International University
Bradley D. McAuliff: Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Lincoln

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Summary

In terms of numbers alone, child maltreatment is a significant social problem. Although recent studies suggest that rates of some types of maltreatment, especially sexual abuse, have decreased markedly in the last decade (Jones & Finkelhor, 2001), overall many children are harmed each year. For example, using a standard of “demonstrable harm as a result of maltreatment,” it has been estimated that 1,553,800, or 23.1/1,000 children, were victims of maltreatment during 1993 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996, pp. 2–9).

In this chapter, we review some examples of newly developed programs, community-based initiatives, and recent legislation designed and implemented to prevent child maltreatment. In this context, we find that although there have been some successes, such programs and legislation are as likely to have been driven by values, biases, and political considerations as they are to have been driven by a research-based understanding of the problem. Stated differently, there tends to be a gap between what we know empirically about prevention and what ultimately gets implemented. We conclude the chapter with some comments about how social scientists might help bridge this gap.

PREVENTING CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect (ABCAN) (1990) described the problem of child maltreatment and the system developed to help solve that problem as a national emergency. In a subsequent report, they called for a preventive strategy that would be “comprehensive, child-centered, family-focused, and neighborhood-based” (U.S. ABCAN, 1993, p. 16; see Small & Limber, this volume).

Type: Chapter
Information: Children, Social Science, and the Law , pp. 322 - 341

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511500114.013 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2002

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