By Kate Blackman and Meghan McCann

The number of children experiencing abuse and neglect has increased steadily since 2011. Child maltreatment includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect.

In 2014:

• Just more than 700,000 children were maltreated.
• 415,000 children—the highest number since 2009—were in foster care.
• 1,546 children died from abuse and neglect.

In response to this persistent challenge, national and state leaders are recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

While their approaches may differ, state leaders can play a variety of roles, including raising awareness. In 2015-2016, at least 12 state legislatures and at least 25 governors—from Alabama to Washington—have recognized Child Abuse Awareness or Prevention Month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a collection of evidence-based or informed strategies to prevent child abuse and neglect. The focus is largely on things that can be done to support families and decrease parental stress and promote positive environments and outcomes for children and families.

The strategies include policies, practices and programs that aim to strengthen economic supports for families, change social norms to support parents and positive parenting, provide early care and education, and enhance parenting skills.

These prevention efforts often focus on bolstering protective factors—strengths that support children and families and help prevent abuse or neglect—as well as on addressing or minimizing risk factors that can increase the chances for maltreatment.

For example, parental substance abuse is widely recognized as a risk factor. In fact, several states have begun to link the rise in maltreatment, foster care caseloads and drug-exposed newborns to the opioid and heroin epidemic across the country.

In some cases, state policymakers have adopted similar ideas and policies to those suggested by the CDC. For example, child support has been shown to increase economic security among low-income families. Half of states have chosen various ways of passing through child support directly to the family without reducing the family’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) support.

And in an effort to reduce the effects of parental substance abuse on children and prevent incidents of maltreatment, several states have introduced legislation to study the issue, provide services to addicted parents, and increase supports to new moms who may have an addiction.

Many states also invest in evidence-based programs, including those highlighted by the CDC. For example, home visiting programs have been shown to decrease child abuse maltreatment as well as risk factors like parental substance abuse.

For a look at prevention legislation across the country, see NCSL’s Injury Prevention Database as well as the Child Welfare Enacted Legislation Database.

Meghan McCann is a policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Children and Families Program. She covers child support, family law, and child welfare policy issues.

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Kate Blackman is a policy specialist with NCSL’s Health Program. She covers child abuse prevention and other public health issues.

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