In the United States, two approaches have developed to exercise collective influence on how parents raise their children. One is mandatory public intervention in families who have placed their children at risk, exemplified by the child welfare system. The other is voluntary offers of assistance, for example, child abuse prevention services that…

Deborah Daro and Kenneth Dodge observe that efforts to prevent child abuse have historically focused on directly improving the skills of parents who are at risk for or engaged in maltreatment. But, as experts increasingly recognize that negative forces within a community can overwhelm even well-intentioned parents, attention is shifting toward…

A 1992 U.S. survey found the rates of reported and substantiated cases of child maltreatment, as well as child deaths due to abuse or neglect, steadily increased from 1985 to 1992. Most cases involve neglect, and the youngest children face the greatest risk of dying from maltreatment. Provides a breakdown of child abuse fatalities by state, and…

Notes that the majority of prevention efforts offer services to individual parents, families, or children with the goal of altering behaviors and attitudes that contribute to risk. Identifies what is known about the efficacy of prevention, highlights the most promising elements of prevention programming, and summarizes critical outstanding…

This commentary notes that solid empirical evidence on the effectiveness of classroom-based child sexual abuse prevention programs is lacking. Prevention efforts need to target potential victims, potential perpetrators, and those aspects of the social fabric that nurture abusive behaviors; and the merits of prevention efforts must be discussed…

For several decades, we have witnessed a surge in public policies aimed at ending child maltreatment, youth violence, and adult domestic violence. Commensurate with this increased interest has been a growing body of research on each issues etiology, affected population, and the public policy and prevention impacts. Even a cursory review of the…

Eighty-nine federally funded demonstration programs for child abuse and neglect treatment (involving 3,253 families) were studied. Results are given for effectiveness of various services for abusers/neglectors and for the involved children, and for treatment success rates for abusers/neglectors. In general, treatment efforts were not very…

Examines public attitudes toward parental discipline practices, incidences of parental practices, the public's support for and involvement in child abuse prevention efforts, and the public's perceptions of causes of child maltreatment. Found that most persons view physical punishment and repeated yelling and swearing at children as harmful.…