A child abuse assessment center was created in Dade County, Florida, and was funded by state and local government sources. Staff includes a project director, two clinical social workers, a follow-up case monitor, clerical support, and a psychologist. The center attempts to minimize trauma to the child victim of sexual and physical abuse by a…

This study investigated the effectiveness of the process of mediation in child protection (CP) and the essential aspects which may contribute to developing more effective working relationships with child welfare families. The study focused on neutrality, one of the primary aspects of CP mediation. Interviews were conducted with 17 adult family…

Recognition of the gravity of the social problem of incest in the United States, coupled with increasing demands for psychological treatment and assistance from social service agencies by incest victims and their families, has demonstrated the need for controlled research in this area. Knowledge of the effects of incest is critical to the…

In many instances, actual or threatened traumatic events trigger strong reactions for those individuals experiencing them, witnessing them, or learning about a loved one or friend who experienced an unexpected trauma. In addition, those who help traumatized persons can sometimes develop secondary traumatization. This workshop presenter constructed…

A study was conducted to examine the act of mothering from the perspective of women who chose to work at home full time, as mothers of their own children and as family day care providers of very young children at risk of abuse and neglect. Through life history interviews, the study examined the caregivers' present and past lives, and explored the…

The thesis underlying this paper is that maltreatment of children is fundamentally a socio-cultural problem, rather than a personal one. The use of an ecological model of human development is advocated to provide insight into the dynamics of child maltreatment, with emphasis on organism-environment interaction, social policy and second-order…

Members of a group of hospitalized children under 4 years of age (48 under care for child abuse, 97 for accidents, 41 for failure to thrive, and 23 for ingestions) were matched individually on age, social class, and race with controls suffering from comparable acute medical conditions. A structured maternal and paternal interview yielded 63…

A study involving 1,146 families with children between 3 and 17 years old was conducted to assess the extent and cause of violence and aggression on children by their parents. Research regarding incidence, modes, and patterns of child abuse was reviewed and problems with various methods of data collection were examined. A household interview…

This study examined the underlying common origins of pediatric social illnesses (i.e., child abuse and neglect, failure to thrive, accidents, and poisonings) in children under age 4. Subjects were 560 children admitted to the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. Children admitted with pediatric social diagnoses were matched on the basis…

A study was conducted to apply and test a model of privacy regulation and disclosure of risky, private information such as sexual abuse. Eight sexually abused children and adolescents, each of whom had initiated disclosure, were interviewed about the disclosure process. A two-part interview was constructed based on the findings in the literature…

This study investigated the effects of cocaine addiction on mothers' ability to care for their children. The population interviewed included 25 cocaine-addicted mothers in a drug treatment center and a comparison group of 25 mothers of children in a Head Start program. Each mother was questioned about: (1) her pregnancy with a specific child…

This paper presents a clinical-developmental discussion of eight parents with a history of having abused a child and outlines a larger developmental analysis of parental conceptions about children and child rearing which was validated on a broad cross-section of 55 parents. From logical analysis and empirical interview data, four developmental…