Abstract
Rates of child maltreatment in the U.S. have been relatively stagnant since the 1990s. This lack of progress suggests that prevention efforts, which have primarily focused on individual behaviors, have been unsuccessful. Building on existing research, this conceptual paper identifies the need to refocus prevention efforts on changeable and causal risk factors. The Modifiable Maltreatment Factors (MMF), a new framework to classify risk factors for maltreatment, is introduced. Use of the MMF in social work education and child protective services work could increase the understanding of macro factors in child maltreatment and the possibilities of policy change and community organizing in maltreatment prevention.
Highlights
In the United States, child protective systems (CPS) are each state’s governmental response to the need for children to be protected from abuse and neglect
A CPS is the agency most associated with child maltreatment, most CPSs do not have the funding or authority to plan for the general welfare of children or support primary maltreatment prevention efforts
The Modifiable Maltreatment Factors (MMF) framework is a pragmatic approach that addresses this gap in the research. This new framework focuses on modifiable factors, contextualizes problems that may be more effectively addressed through policy solutions or organizing efforts, and organizes the risk factors of child maltreatment across the levels of the ecological model
Summary
In the United States, child protective systems (CPS) are each state’s governmental response to the need for children to be protected from abuse and neglect (referred to collectively as child maltreatment). This new framework focuses on modifiable factors, contextualizes problems that may be more effectively addressed through policy solutions or organizing efforts, and organizes the risk factors of child maltreatment across the levels of the ecological model Through this lens, risk factors for child neglect can be prevented, rather than merely assessed. These agencies are charged with child protection, interpreted as secondary and tertiary prevention or treatment, such as therapy for children and parents, parent training courses, or referrals to other types of support services This has led to a focus within CPS on individual-level risk factors and individual or family-focused interventions to address problems that are apparent and measureable at the individual level, such as mental health, substance misuse, and parent behaviors [13]. Scholarship and policy have not focused on possibilities for prevention of child maltreatment through community change and macro factors
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