NCJ Number
179348
Date Published
February 1999
Length
54 pages
Annotation
This guide is designed to help States develop an effective approach to child safety decision-making and intervention.
Abstract
Child safety interventions are oriented toward the control of threats, while a treatment plan seeks to change conditions that cause threats. Crucial to successful child safety interventions is the determination of what protective factors are needed to counter identified threats to child safety, and the child welfare field has embraced the idea of family-centered practice. Guidelines to help States ensure child safety are offered that concern threats of harm, threat conceptualization, threat severity, child vulnerability, and dangerousness. Forms of maltreatment are discussed, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect. Protective factors related to child safety are identified, such as cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors and the family network and environment. The importance of integrating protective factors into child safety assessments and interventions is emphasized. Child safety is viewed as a significant component of the child protective service (CPS) process, and the role of CPS workers in child safety decision-making is examined. 2 figures