Special Issue: Toward a Better Approach to Preventing, Identifying, and Addressing Child Maltreatment

Abstract

This volume of The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science aims to increase awareness among scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners of the size, scope, and functions of child welfare services in the United States. We aim to promote a wider understanding of the broad impacts of child welfare policies and point to ways in which child welfare services can be better incorporated into cross-cutting social policy debates. The articles in this volume offer concrete recommendations for policies and practices that can reduce child maltreatment, and for systemic approaches—both within the purview of child welfare services and across the broader community and social policy landscape—that can better identify and respond to the needs of children and families in which maltreatment has already occurred or where there is a risk of abuse and neglect. This introduction sets a foundation for understanding the contents of the volume: we provide an overview of child welfare services in the United States and highlight current challenges that the U.S. child welfare systems face.

While the special issue was initially open access for several months, it is now behind a paywall. Feel free to contact any of the authors directly for a copy of their article, or contact me and I can forward the request to relevant author teams.

The associated webinar provides an additional overview of the special issue, and features presentations by three of the contributing author teams.