Compared families referred to county child welfare agency for child neglect who were known to agency for 3+ years (chronic group); recently referred and substantiated (newly neglecting group); and referred but not substantiated (unconfirmed group). Found significant differences among groups in family size/composition, numbers/kinds of problems,…

Policymakers are increasingly focusing on children exposed to domestic violence. The 1999 Minnesota legislature amended the definition of child neglect to include a child's exposure to family violence. What was initially seen as a simple change to bring more attention to children exposed to domestic violence resulted in great turmoil across…

Notes that societal efforts to protect endangered children have resulted in increased responsibilities for social workers to identify, report, and provide testimony in suspected cases of abuse and neglect. Provides information to increase social workers' knowledge of legal requisites and system realities in child protection to help them make…

Inability to handle continued stress on the job, which results in demoralization, frustration, and reduced efficiency, has come to be termed "burnout." Explores why caseworkers in protective services are especially susceptible to becoming emotionally burned-out and describes various strategies for the management of stress and prevention…

This study questions whether social workers reflect a middle-class bias in establishing the standards by which they judge child neglect. Results suggest that a surprising unity of opinion exists among social workers, working-class mothers, and middle-class mothers in defining adequate child care. (Author)

After brief history of development of mandatory reporting laws to protect children from maltreatment and evaluation of assumptions underlying use of these laws for case finding, analyzes costs and benefits of reporting laws for four stakeholders (state, professionals, families, and children) and concludes that costs of laws outweigh benefits.…

In recent years, child abuse has emerged as a social priority of national importance, largely through physicians' efforts to make it so. Grafting a medical approach onto what has been a social work concern has had serious, perhaps unfortunate, consequences for social work policy, practice, and education. (Author)

Argues that nonorganic failure-to-thrive syndrome (NFTT) in infants is the result of family disengagement--the family system's maladaptive style of interaction. Proposes a systems-based approach to diagnosis and to treatment, focusing on the process of disengagement and other interaction factors. (Author/ABB)

The aim of the federally funded National Demonstration Program in Child Abuse and Neglect was to develop and test alternative treatment strategies. This article reports on an evaluation of treatment services in the 11 projects in the program. Implications are presented. (Author)

Reports on an interorganizational collaboration in which a community-based service network of family support programs to help prevent child abuse and neglect was implemented. Presents a theoretical framework for understanding community-based networks and interorganizational collaboration and describes and analyzes how collaboration was used to…

The Cincinnati Children's Hospital treated preadolescent children for symptoms, signs, or complaints of sexual abuse. The alleged abuser was known to the children in 72 percent of the cases. Describes the hospital's procedure for identifying these children and the follow-up services necessary for their protection and emotional adjustment. (Author)

Discusses the problems of children with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Questions whether society is prepared to respond to these children's needs. Asserts that the definitions of child abuse and neglect need to include the transmission of AIDS and that the foster care system will probably not be able to meet the needs of this…

Reports data on the extent of abuse and neglect (both physical and emotional) in a population of middle-class families. Argues that child abuse and neglect have been studied almost exclusively in working-class communities, particularly socially marginal families. Found emotional neglect predominated over physical aggression because of middle-class…

Examines social isolation and the use of informal helping networks of families (N=130) at risk for child abuse or neglect. Preventive service workers' (N=13) responses to a natural helper survey revealed that friends, relatives, and neighbors are potential helpers for such families and are effective in resolving problems they address. (NRB)

Reviews case records of 256 children in foster care in Illinois and examines the relationship between agency practices and parental visiting patterns. Findings indicate that there is a strong connection between visiting plans and actual visiting patterns and that knowledge and policy about visitation are not fully integrated into current child…