This edited work offers a framework that organizes and develops the types of evidence needed at key decision points in child welfare.

This volume examines existing research documenting racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare systems, the underlying factors that contribute to these phenomena and the harms that result at both the individual and community levels. It reviews multiple forms of interventions designed to prevent and reduce disproportionality, particularly in states and jurisdictions that have seen meaningful change. With contributions from authorities and leaders in the field, this volume serves as the authoritative volume on the complex issue of child maltreatment and child welfare. It offers a central source of information for students and practitioners who are seeking understanding on how structural and institutional racism can be addressed in public systems.

Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves-they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains-including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems-and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response.

This volume provides a wide spectrum description analysis of the contemporary and well established child protection systems in a range of countries, such as Australia, Canada, Netherlands and Spain. It presents a brief orientation about the public and private systems involved in protecting children in each country. Further the book identifies current key policy and implementation drivers that orient the systems of child protection, such as children’s rights, family preservation, use of evidence and public health orientation. Finally it presents a critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of the systems, as well as, strategies for prospects for improving outcomes for children and their families.

This volume brings together leading experts on child maltreatment to address its social, cultural, and economic precursors, as well as effective prevention and treatment. Focusing on ways to strengthen neighborhoods, build connections among and within families, and bolster economic and social supports, contributors offer practical advice for the development and implementation of programs and policies to prevent harm to children. Their work proposes an agenda for critical research and identifies concrete strategies for a wide range of professionals who work with children.

All countries confront the problem of providing for dependent, neglected, and 1 abused children. While the exact form of institutional response will differ in relation to a country's political and economic structure, its culture and its tradition, the same general kinds of child welfare services have been developed 2 everywhere. Literature from the United States, Canada, and several Western European countries reflects a shared concern about children who reside in unplanned, substitute care arrangements and a growing recognition of the importance of 3 making permanent plans for these children. The American response to this problem took shape in the early 1970s when government at the local, state, and 4 federal levels undertook to fund permanency planning projects. Permanency planning projects were charged with developing and testing procedures that would increase the likelihood that children would move out of substitute care arrangements into permanent family homes either through restoration to their biological families, termination of parental rights and subsequent adoption, court appointment of a legal guardian, or planned emancipation for older children. Long-term foster care, if it was a planned outcome supported by the use of written agreements between foster parents and child care agencies, was recognized as an appropriate option for some children. 2 DECISION MAKING IN CHILD WELFARE Permanency planning projects have had a direct effect on the substantive aspects of social work practice in child welfare.

The proportion of children living in households headed by single women is more than one in five. There is concern (and some evidence) that children of single parents are less likely to be successful adults. The book discusses the trends in public debate about this problem. In particular, it examines the issue of providing public assistance to such families and whether doing so fosters long-term welfare dependency.

Professionals in child welfare and protection are often required to make decisions--fraught with many difficulties and shortcomings--that have crucial implications for children and families. There are many indications that these decisions are frequently unreliable and involve unavoidable errors in judgement due to the uncertainties. Despite the central role of judgements in the field, child welfare and protection training and research programs pay limited attention to leveraging the human factors aspect of practice. Although extensive research exists in relevant areas--such as medicine, psychology, business administration, and economics--little has been done to help develop, transfer, and translate scientific knowledge to the child welfare arena. Decision-Making and Judgment in Child Welfare and Protection pulls together the best internationally sourced expertise and makes it accessibly available and applicable to scholars, educators, practitioners, students, and policymakers--the key stakeholders in child protective services and child welfare.

Professionals in child welfare and protection are often required to make decisions--fraught with many difficulties and shortcomings--that have crucial implications for children and families. There are many indications that these decisions are frequently unreliable and involve unavoidable errors in judgement due to the uncertainties. This book applies much-needed insights gleaned from the fields of business and behavioral economics to child welfare practice, bridging a critical gap in the child welfare and protection research agenda.