Can We Have a “Do-over”? Disrupting a Half-century Old Approach to Child Abuse and Neglect

Date

2020

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice

Abstract

Working in an academic hospital unit then known as the National Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect (now The Kempe Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus), C. Henry Kempe and his colleagues published several books and papers providing practical guidance for health professionals and educators concerned about child maltreatment. These publications focused on recognition of children who had experienced abuse and neglect, treatment of such children and their families with social and mental health services, and prediction and prevention of child abuse and neglect in the perinatal period. The multidisciplinary approaches described in these publications were based on efforts originating with the identification of the battered child syndrome in the 1960s and developed and tested in the 1970s after the state-by-state adoption of child abuse reporting laws and corollary establishment of public-sector child protection systems. Our hope is that this compilation of work will stimulate innovation and discussion for the field. It is abundantly clear that the status quo is inadequate. The current system of child protection fails to demonstrate effectiveness in identifying abuse and neglect and in ameliorating and intervening in a way that assures healthy children and families. Furthermore, the current system (like the society at large) does nothing for the hundreds of thousands of children who are abused outside the family. We need to do better. (Author Text)

Description

Keywords

child abuse, policy, procedures, prevention, intervention

Citation

Krugman, Richard D. ; Poland, Lori E. (2020). Can We Have a “Do-over”? Disrupting a Half-century Old Approach to Child Abuse and Neglect. International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice, 3, 1–7.

DOI