NCJ Number
217285
Journal
Hamline Journal of Public Law & Policy Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2006 Pages: 1-74
Date Published
2006
Length
74 pages
Annotation
After reviewing the history of efforts to counter child abuse in America, this paper proposes a detailed plan for ending child abuse in the United States within the next 120 years.
Abstract
This paper proposes a three-pronged strategy for significantly reducing and eventually ending child abuse in America. First, abused children must be reported into the system, and those reports must be of a high quality. Second, the system must conduct a competent investigation of every child abuse case that comes to its attention; and when abuse is substantiated, appropriate civil and criminal actions must be competently pursued. Third, police officers, prosecutors, and social workers must be trained to be community leaders in the prevention of child abuse. If the latter is to occur, front-line child protection professionals must communicate to governmental and other leaders the needs of maltreated children and the most effective means in addressing those needs. The historical overview of the fight against child abuse in the United States concludes that as a Nation, more has been done to address child abuse in the past 30 years than occurred in the first 200 years of U.S. history. An assessment of the current state of efforts to counter child abuse identifies five obstacles to ending child abuse. First, many children suspected of being abused are not reported into the system. Second, even when reports come into the system, most children will never have their cases investigated. Third, even when cases are investigated, the investigators and other front-line responders are often inadequately trained and inexperienced. Fourth, substantiated cases brought into the system typically involve older children whose problems are more difficult to address. Fifth, child abuse victims receive an inadequate share of the Nation's financial resources. 200 notes