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Child Abuse: Preventive and Reactive Interventions. Child Protective Services. Investigate reports of child maltreatment Provide Treatment Services Coordinate services offered by other agencies Implement Preventive services. Mandated Reporters.
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Child Protective Services • Investigate reports of child maltreatment • Provide Treatment Services • Coordinate services offered by other agencies • Implement Preventive services
Mandated Reporters • Certain Professionals must report SUSPECTED cases of child maltreatment • Reports must be made immediately upon suspicion of abuse • For nonprofessionals, reports can be made anonymously • http://www.dss.mo.gov/cd/can.htm • Created in 1975 and takes over 105,000 calls per year
Types of Child/Neglect Calls • Allegation of abuse (excludes spanking in reasonable manner) or neglect to a child victim; • The child victim must be under age 18 at the time of the call; • The abuse/neglect must have been inflicted or caused by a person exercising care, custody, and control (parent, adult relative, teacher, day care provider, etc.) over the child; and • Sufficient identifying information (names, addresses, etc.) to locate the family and to begin an investigation or assessment.
Some Previous Problems with Missouri Reporting • Inconsistent/incomplete information taken by hotline staff • Busy signals during peak telephone times: Previously, the hotline answered on average less than 50% of calls offered and gave several thousand busy signals each month.
Improvements • In December 2003 a standardized protocol was implemented in order to make the calls more consistent and to assist with categorizing and triaging calls • A call management system was added in 2004 in order to assist with busy signals. By June 2004, the hotline answered 96% of calls offered and gave only 157 busy signals
Competing issues for CPS • Child Safety • Family Reunification
Characteristics of Child Fatalities • 25% result from physical abuse • 36% result from child neglect • 31% died from multiple forms of maltreatment • Leading cause of death is head injury • 85% are under 6 years of age with 44% under the age of 1
Out of Home Care • By the early 1990s, more than 400,000 children were placed in out of home care with the majority in foster care • Predictors of foster care • Prior maltreatment • Younger than 4 years of age • Forms of abuse other than child sexual abuse • Research is inconclusive about whether out of home placements result in more beneficial outcomes