This study identified selected child factors (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, disabilities, prior victimization, and relationship to perpetrator of abuse), family risk factors (e.g., substance abuse, domestic violence, inadequate housing, and financial problems), and services provided by child protective services that likely increased reports…

As this author traveled around the country, many university professors and domestic violence advocates told him that prosecuting or even intervening with social services is morally "wrong" in cases in which parents fail to protect their children. There are two problems with these arguments. First, these arguments assume that mothers should "never"…