NCJ Number
169290
Date Published
1997
Length
202 pages
Annotation
Three papers, that served as background papers for the National Institute of Justice's Child Abuse Intervention Strategic Planning Meeting (October 3, 1997) provide an overview of current research, practices, innovations, and key issues in the field of child abuse and neglect.
Abstract
Part I of the first paper, "Managing the Consequences: An Overview of Intervention Strategies for Victims of Child Abuse and Neglect," reviews and discusses existing intervention strategies with victims of child abuse and neglect and their caretakers; topics include the goals of intervention, the allocation of prosecutorial and programmatic resources among victims, identification of services, funding sources for interventions, and the current role of the criminal justice system in service provision. Part II highlights eight high-risk groups of abused and neglected children drawn from the research literature on the relationships between child abuse, delinquency, adult criminality, and violence and various persons and demographic characteristics. Age-appropriate intervention strategies are suggested for children in various high-risk categories. The second paper, "Theory and Research on the Outcomes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect," provides an overview of the theoretical bases for the interventions discussed in the first paper, an examination of research that identifies differential outcomes of abuse and neglect according to multiple factors, and a detailed discussion of research findings on risk and protective factors that influence delinquency and adult criminality for victims of child abuse and neglect. The third paper, "Policies, Practices and Statutes Relating to Child Protection and Welfare," focuses on the broad legal and institutional context of intervention in child abuse and neglect to clarify which laws, policies, and practices in the field constrain or facilitate intervention strategies. Appended lists of selected individuals interviewed for the background papers and national organizations concerned with child abuse and neglect contacted for the background papers