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NCSL State Health Notes: Public Health News

States Using Evidence-Based
Methods to Prevent Child Abuse

Excerpted from the May 3, 2004 issue of NCSL’s State Health Notes, Volume 25, Number 419

Nearly 900,000 children were abused in 2002; most were victims of neglect, but 1,400 were homicides. States are joining with the CDC and others to scientifically test new ways of preventing maltreatment and neglect.

Research has shown that effective programs intervene with children and families very early on - prenatally or at birth; are long-term and intensive; and offer parents help with finances, health care and mental health issues, according to Dr. Deborah Daro, an expert in child abuse treatment and prevention at the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago. Such programs offer direct services for children and are linked to other services that support families. Effective programs also limit the caseloads for child abuse prevention program staff to no more than 15 families per worker, hire staff with strong relationship-building skills and provide ongoing training and supervision.

Programs with these elements reduce the occurrence and intensity of child abuse, improve interactions between parent and child, enhance child development and link families to much needed health-care services, Daro said.

Click here for full article, (printer-friendly version).

To read the full issue and learn more about how states are using evidence-based programs to prevent child abuse in Florida, Oklahoma, Wyoming and elsewhere, go to the May 3, 2004 issue of NCSL’s State Health Notes at http://www.statehealthnotes.org/pub/25_419/. (Subscription to State Health Notes is FREE to state legislators, state legislative staff and state legislative librarians.  To access the article, just click on Non-Subscribers, then click on Legislators.)  The article also contains an interview with Dr. John Lutzker, Chief of Evaluation at the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, on the CDC’s state child abuse prevention collaborative projects.