Child abuse and neglect treatment demonstrations

• Published in: Children and youth services review 1992, Vol.14 (1), p.67-76
• Main Authors: Layzer, Jean I., Goodson, Barbara D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child Abuse; Child Neglect; Program Evaluation; Social Work Cases; Treatment Methods
• ISSN: 0190-7409; 1873-7765
• DOI: 10.1016/0190-7409(92)90015-N

The impact evaluation of demonstration treatment programs funded by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect was designed to examine the kinds of services provided to families and to assess changes in families. Information was abstracted from a sample of 488 case records at fifteen sites. The sample represented the kinds of maltreatment seen in each project and was proportionate to the size of the client population at each site. An exploratory study of family outcomes focused on all families seen by project staff in the two largest projects during a six-week period. Primary caseworkers completed a questionnaire describing the family and its problems, services received, and changes in the family. The study found that mothers received services more frequently than fathers even in cases where fathers were more responsible for maltreatment. The service provided most frequently to parents was counseling or casework. Children received few services; most were for medical treatment for non-accidental injuries. While caseworkers judged maltreatment to have diminished or stopped in the majority of the cases, services were only weakly associated with improvement. The study's two major conclusions were: The focus of treatment services on parents left unmet, in many cases, the needs of abused and neglected children and their siblings for medical and psychological attention; and that projects expended most resources and efforts on families with severe and chronic problems who showed little or no improvement.