The Child Maltreatment Prevention Landscape: Where Are We Now, and Where Should We Go?

Child maltreatment calls for a broad range of preventative policies and practices, but limited governmental funding and leadership has been devoted to the problem. Effective strategies to prevent maltreatment exist, but they have had limited uptake in the child welfare system. In this article, we tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2020-11, Vol.692 (1), p.97-118
Main Authors: Jones Harden, Brenda, Simons, Cassandra, Johnson-Motoyama, Michelle, Barth, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child abuse & neglect
Child welfare
Children
Health problems
Leadership
Literature reviews
Prevention
Prevention programs
Public health
Uptake
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Summary:Child maltreatment calls for a broad range of preventative policies and practices, but limited governmental funding and leadership has been devoted to the problem. Effective strategies to prevent maltreatment exist, but they have had limited uptake in the child welfare system. In this article, we trace how government responsibility for the prevention of child maltreatment became centered within the nation’s child protection response. Further, we discuss developments in prevention science, review the existing literature on the effectiveness of a range of prevention strategies, and present a public health approach to prevention. The article concludes with a set of recommendations to inform future efforts to prevent child maltreatment through approaches that seek to expand capacity for the implementation of evidence-based prevention programs, while addressing the adverse community experiences that exacerbate risk for child maltreatment.
ISSN:0002-7162
1552-3349
DOI:10.1177/0002716220978361