Much as one would like to be able to base permanency decisions on the solid ground of empirical findings and objective knowledge, the nature of child abuse precludes this possibility. In the absence of any unitary knowledge base, it is important to know what knowledge social workers use to inform their permanency decisions. This article presents…

Abuse or neglect and disability often go hand in hand. Unfortunately, most professionals who work with maltreated young children are not aware of early childhood and disability-related resources and services available. In order to raise awareness across early childhood and child welfare systems, a five-week advanced training for volunteer child…

This study was designed to assess social service workers' perceptions of nonoffending caregivers in cases of child sexual abuse. Attributions of blame were examined by administering questionnaires to staff at local social service agencies. It was hypothesized that social service workers who worked in the field longer, were male, or had less…

This document presents a report on research undertaken to assess the incidence of child abuse reporting and of failure to report among mandated reporters; the contributions of workplace, personal, and institutional factors to reporting behavior; and the interaction of mandated reporters with the child protective agencies to which they report. The…

This report analyzes data from a 2-year study of connections between substance abuse and child maltreatment, exposing how child welfare agencies and family court systems handle child custody decisions when parents are substance abusers. The six chapters are: (1) "Introduction and Executive Summary"; (2) "No Safe Haven for Children" (new and…

Several recent reports have examined the needs of families with substance abuse problems in the child welfare system, and documented the barriers to obtaining social services. This report aims to inform substance abuse agencies in depth about the changes in child welfare laws and practices that affect substance abuse agencies policies and…

For more than a decade, Florida's Palm Beach County has been building an infrastructure of prevention and early intervention services to promote and support the healthy development and school readiness of children from birth to age 8. The county began this effort with a set of programs focused on serving families in four targeted geographic areas…

This practicum was designed to improve Child Protective Services in a western state to sexually reactive children under the age of 10 by targeting four areas of the service delivery system: screening, assessment, treatment, and foster care. A panel of agency staff from all service areas researched, designed, proposed, and implemented changes…

The Doorways training program was designed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Safe Schools Program (Safe Schools) to enable teachers, community members and students to prevent and respond to school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV). Teachers can play a central role in violence prevention, and they can also help…

Pursuant to a bill passed by the Iowa legislature requiring training for mandatory reporters of child abuse, this manual addresses the fundamental issues of identifying and reporting child abuse. Chapter 1 is an overview of the history of child abuse and how the current system of reporting has evolved. Chapter 2 is a basic primer on the physical…

To generate information about the association between child care and child abuse prevention and identification, a statewide survey was made of a sample of program directors in child care centers, program coordinators in alternative payment programs, and directors of family child care satellite programs in California. Detailing the background,…

This annual survey of respite care and crisis nursery programs funded by the Children's Bureau of the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contains program information for 43 crisis nursery programs and 65 respite care programs. Data on crisis nurseries and on respite care programs…

This module is part of a training program for foster parents and foster care workers offered at Colorado State University. The module's learning objectives address: (1) the uncertainty in parenting; (2) a range of options for parenting challenging children; (3) the use of complex resource arrangements to meet the multiple needs of challenging…

The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect was established under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). In its annual reports, the Board is charged with evaluating the nation's efforts to accomplish the purpose of CAPTA and to propose recommendations about ways those efforts can be improved. Noting that every day, five young…

The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect was established under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). In its annual reports, the Board is charged with evaluating the nation's efforts to accomplish the purpose of CAPTA and to propose recommendations about ways those efforts can be improved. Noting that every day, five young…