NCJ Number
100480
Date Published
1985
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The purpose of and need for coordinated child sexual abuse intervention, combining child protective, mental health, and criminal justice services, is discussed with special attention to practices in New York State.
Abstract
Coordination of services can help agencies fulfill their mandated role and facilitate child protection, offender restraint/rehabilitation, and family treatment. Such a coordinated treatment model, emphasizing interagency collaboration and the role of the courts, was developed for statewide training of child protection and law enforcement personnel and has been implemented in many New York communities. Multidisciplinary teams (usually including caseworkers, police, mental health professionals, prosecutors, medical personnel, probation officers, and guardians ad litem) provide the means for pooling information, ongoing assessment, case coordination, comprehensive treatment planning, and improved service delivery. Individual, group, and family therapy provide modalities for dealing with such treatment issues as victim guilt and loss of self-esteem, perpetrator denial and nonsexual needs, and family roles and reactions. 1 note and 11 references.