Child Welfare Policy Briefing: Strategies to Address Child Abuse & Neglect

  Child Welfare Policy Briefing: Strategies to Address Child Abuse & Neglect April 7, 2011 Vol. 2, Number 1   The future prosperity of any community...
Author: Kelly Hodges
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Child Welfare Policy Briefing: Strategies to Address Child Abuse & Neglect April 7, 2011 Vol. 2, Number 1  

The future prosperity of any community depends on its ability to foster the health and well-being of the next generation. When a community invests wisely in children and families, the next generation will pay that back through a lifetime of productivity and responsible citizenship. Yet, when not all children have equal opportunity for healthy growth and development – due to experiences of child abuse and neglect – we put our future at risk. As a recognized leader in professional education, training and advocacy, research and evaluation, the prevention of maltreatment to children has historically been at the core of the work of American Humane Association. On the national spectrum of child and family wellbeing, American Humane Association has specialized its work within child welfare and child protection, while continuing to place importance on the multiple facets of child abuse prevention across all of its work. Through the development and implementation of primary prevention programs such as The Front Porch Project®, American Humane Association uses a comprehensive approach to engage many parties around prevention and address the specific vulnerabilities of families who come to the attention of the child protection agencies. Differential Response is a secondary prevention strategy that targets families who have been identified as needing attention by the child welfare system. In all of its child focused programs, American Humane Association uses a family-centric approach that also incorporates active participation of community and multiple systems, and measures child outcomes of maltreatment prevention. How Big is the Problem? In 2009, child protective services agencies received an estimated 3.3 million referrals of alleged maltreatment of approximately 6.6 million children 1 . Out of these reports, an estimated 763,000 cases of child and neglect were substantiated 2 . Child welfare professionals are working at full capacity to protect our nation’s children. But, it is clear from these statistics the problem is too great and too important to be delegated entirely to these valiant workers.

Reports 7,000,000 6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

Referrals Children Affected

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Source: U.S. DHHS (2010). Child maltreatment 2009. Washington, DC: Author.

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The reports come from a variety of sources, mainly from education, legal and law enforcement, medical and social services personnel. While much of the focus related to child maltreatment has been on child abuse – the form of child maltreatment with the most immediately visible consequences – child neglect is the most prevalent form of maltreatment, and national statistics have shown this to be true for well over a decade. Almost 80% of reported maltreatment was for neglect. Child neglect generally refers to a parent or caretaker’s failure or omissions in meeting a child’s basic needs for healthy growth and development.

Reported Maltreatment Types Other 0.3 Medical Neglect 2.4 Psychological Maltreatment

7.6

Sexual Abuse

9.5

Other

9.6

Physical Abuse

17.8

Neglect

78.3

Source: U.S. DHHS (2010). Child maltreatment 2009. Washington, DC: Author.

The children most likely to be affected by abuse and neglect are our nation’s youngest. This reality is particularly stark when it comes to child fatalities. Of the estimated 1,770 children that died in 2009 as a result of abuse and neglect, four-fifths were under the age of four. One-third (35.8%) of child fatalities were attributed to neglect exclusively and one-third (36.7%) of child fatalities were caused by multiple maltreatment types 3 .

Victims by Age 6.3%

0.4%