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This document was prepared from information provided by state child protective services agencies on the 1991 Summary Data Component Form of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). The report is a working document that provides a basis for developing and refining the approach to collecting national information on child maltreatment. A background section describes the historical background of the design and development of the NCANDS, including the legislative basis for initiating the design. The next section discusses some of the issues, problems, and major findings that emerged in the implementation of the national data collection exercises. Tables then report aggregate data reported by states on: number of reports, numbers of children subject of a report, number of reports by source, number of investigations by disposition, number of children by disposition, number of victims by maltreatment type, age of victims, sex of victims, race/ethnicity of victims, victims removed from home, court action initiated, receiving additional services, number of children who died from abuse or neglect, and relationship of perpetrator to victim. Data from each table are then analyzed and findings are discussed. State explanations of the data in the national data tables are provided. A glossary contains working definitions of the NCANDS data elements. Appendixes list persons involved in the project, provide copies of forms and instructions, and present revised 1990 tables reflecting state updates. (JDD)

Early childhood is a critical time for cognitive, social, and behavioral development. Many states have invested in comprehensive early childhood care and education systems that offer a wide range of supports and services to families from the prenatal period through school entry. Home visiting programs are an important component of state early childhood systems. In a typical home visiting program, trained professionals provide regular, voluntary home visits to at-risk expectant and new parents and offer guidance, risk assessment, and referrals to other services offered in the community. As states continue to redesign and streamline state programs to make them more effective, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) released this paper to offer states suggestions on how to better coordinate and integrate home visitation programs to improve early childhood initiatives. (Contains 33 endnotes.)

The report describes the design of a community development model for child abuse and neglect which used resources already existing in a rural area. The first section presents basic generalizations about rural areas, services, and rural human services professionals. Section II presents working papers, definitions, and concepts used in the project. Contents include papers on community responsibility in child abuse, societal and institutional abuse and neglect, operationalized definitions, self help groups oriented toward social change and children's rights. The development of ACCR (Appalachian Citizens for Children's Rights) is detailed in Section III. Section IV examines human service systems which exist in most rural communities. Covered are social services, health services, law enforcement, education, recreation, child care, and self help services. A final section discusses organization of self help programs in rural communities. (CL)

"Camden Kids Count 2004" provides a snapshot of child well-being in one of New Jersey's most impoverished cities, in the hopes of helping both city and state policymakers make use of limited resources to help New Jersey's neediest children. Here are some major findings documented in this report: (1) Thirty-five percent of Camden's population was under 18, according to the 2000 U.S. Census; (2) While the percentage of Camden residents under 18 is high, Camden's total child population declined 15 percent from the 1990 to 2000 U.S. Census; (3) Just 2.7 percent of Camden's children were white in 2000; (4) Earning just $20,695 in 1999, Camden City families fell far below the county median family income of $56,346; (5) According to U.S. Census 2000, nearly 40 percent of Camden youth aged 5 to 17 primarily speak a language other than English at home; (6) Mirroring statewide trends, the number of city children receiving welfare plummeted 35.8 percent from 1999 to 2004, but they still accounted for 66 percent of all Camden County children living in families on welfare; and (7) In the 2002-2003 school year, more than half of the city's fourth-graders failed both the language arts (55.1%) and math (58.1%) portion of the statewide tests. Other major findings include: (1) In 2001, infant deaths accounted for 1.7 percent of all births in the city and 1 percent in the county; (2) Births to unmarried mothers represented 80 percent of total births in the city in 2002, compared to 29 percent statewide; (3) Low-weight births in Camden City declined from 13.2 percent of all births in 1996 to 12.1 percent in 2002; (4) Births to teens dropped more in the city than the county; and (5) Out-of-home placements increased 17.4 percent in the city and 38.4 percent statewide from 2000 to 2004. Glossary/Sources are included. [This paper was produced in partnership with CAMConnect. Additional funding for Camden Kids Count was provided by: the Camden Center for Youth Development and Cooper University Hospital.]

The problem of child sexual abuse has gained an increasing amount of national attention in the past decade. Intra-familial sexual relations, incest, appears to be the predominant form of child sexual abuse. Seventy to 80 percent of sexual abuse occurs with affinity systems--families, relatives, friends, and neighbors. Child sexual abuse has been defined as "contacts or interactions between a child and an adult in which the child is used for the sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another individual." Researchers have concluded that psychological effects of sexual abuse are harmful to the child victim. Due to the seriousness of psychological symptoms which victims experience, the need for effective treatment has been recognized and a variety of treatment approaches have been developed recently. Behavioral techniques, family systems approach, group therapy for victims, and all treatment modalities such as individual, group, family, and support groups are noted in the literature. No matter how consistently and conscientiously a child is supervised and protected a child must increasingly contribute to his or her own safety by learning to recognize and to deal appropriately with persons and circumstances which may indicate danger. In the last few years, there has been impressive progress in recognizing, understanding, and preventing child sexual abuse. However, it is vital to the well-being of our society that educators and parents continue their efforts to eradicate this and all other forms of child abuse and neglect. (ABL)

This resource handbook and workshop guide for early childhood educators and caregivers provides a wide range of information about the abuse and neglect of children. Section I, which focuses on identification, reporting, and intervention, includes information about factors contributing to child abuse; short- and long-term effects; scope and definitions of abuse and neglect; reporting law and responsibility; the reporting process; and ways to maintain a relationship with the abusing or neglecting family after making a report. Section II, which concerns prevention, outlines ways in which an early childhood center can help prevent child abuse and neglect in the community; discusses ways to minimize risk of abuse in early childhood programs; and contrasts approved and disapproved discipline practices in day care centers. The brief, concluding Section III offers advice about what educators and caregivers should do if they are accused of child abuse or neglect. (RH)

This series of single- and double-sheet articles is designed to help parents better understand the role of parents, the skills and constraints involved in parenting, the effects of parenting on child development, and the effects of child development on parenting. The series contains a set of articles which address general aspects of parenting, discipline, parent-teen communication, and the use of a "family council" to enrich communication. Another set of articles describes emotional aspects of parent-child relations: how to communicate love to children, how to promote a positive self-concept in children, and how children experience emotions. The third set describes the social, cognitive, and physical developmental levels parents can generally expect of children at each of the first five years of life in such activities as sleeping, eating, toilet training, temper tantrums, play, cooperation, etc. The last set of articles addresses the special concerns of child abuse and neglect, self-care for children, dual career families, day care, and single parent families. Each of the articles briefly discusses the issues involved in each topic and offers recommendations to help parents cope with the responsibilities of parenthood. (BN)

This document presents proposals for goals and strategies for children and development in the 1990s that were approved by the UNICEF Executive Board in April, 1990. The paper proposes that developing human capabilities and meeting basic human needs should be the focus of the UNICEF contribution to the fourth United Nations developmental decade. Within this framework, priority for UNICEF action must be set as part of the country program approach and enriched by the global vision of goals and strategies for child survival, development, and protection by the year 2000. Chapters I and II present background information and a review of the first, second, and third United Nations development decades respectively. Chapter III provides a statistical analysis of the unmet needs and unfulfilled rights of children. The unprecedented opportunities for substantial gains in the well-being of children brought about by today's technologies and the revolution in communication are summarized in Chapter IV. Chapter V lists goals for children and development in the 1990s, while Chapter VI describes the most important strategic priorities for meeting these goals. Program approaches in different country situations are highlighted in Chapter VII, while Chapter VIII outlines operational strategies for UNICEF in the areas of program strategies, advocacy and resource mobilization, and organization and management. Finally, Chapter IX presents the decision taken by the UNICEF Executive Board to approve the document and its recommendations. (RH)

The six-page information sheet addresses the elements in Indian history, culture, psycho-dynamics, and socio-economics that have an impact on Indian child abuse and neglect. Discussion is presented on two myths that Whites have developed in time about Indians: racial superiority which has caused difficulty for the Indian and the necessity for assimilation in order to coexist within the same country. When working with Indian people it is suggested to avoid categorizing all Indians together since cultural diversity exists among Indian tribes. Another suggestion offered is to make an attempt to understand unique cultural attributes when working on a case of Indian child abuse and neglect. Background information is presented on: social organization of Indian families; education as a factor in breaking up the Indian extended family system; and the impact that a nonexistent extended family system has on child-rearing practices. Factors involved in Indian child abuse and neglect among young Indian parents in the urban setting are outlined and incude: immaturity and associated dependency, low self-esteem, difficulty in finding satisfaction in the adult world, difficulty in adusting to the dominant society, loss of control and power, social isolation, lack of parenting skills, difficulty in accepting responsibility for own lives, and limitation of ability to provide an adequate living. (ERB)

Designed to assist attorneys, social workers, and other interested parties, this manual describes work with child abuse and neglect cases in Texas. After a brief overview of the child abuse and neglect issue in that state, as well as an examination of the role of the Texas Department of Human Resources, the manual discusses suits affecting the parent/child relationship in Texas and outlines in detail the stages in a child abuse case from emergency removal through adoption. A conclusion provides a brief discussion of the Indian Child Welfare Act and Title 4 of the Texas Family Code (entitled "Protection of the Family"). A list of related reading materials and copies of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Texas Family Code are appended. (MP)

This 1996 KIDS COUNT data book presents comparative data on child well-being for each county in Montana and for the state as a whole. Data in the county profiles, which comprise the bulk of the report, are grouped into: background facts (demographic, mental health, education, security, and income support information); charts showing changes in population, per capita income, and public school enrollment; a High Risk Family Formation Index (or percent of births to high-risk mothers); and a county indicator grid containing 14 indicators. For each county, data for 1996 (or the latest available period) are compared with those for 1990 and for the state as a whole in 1996 (or the latest available period). Indicators are: (1) percent low birth weight; (2) infant mortality rate; (3) percent entering prenatal care in the first trimester; (4) average number of prenatal visits; (5) average cost of Medicaid pregnancy services; (6) percent Title 1 remedial education; (7) percent special education; (8) student/teacher ratio; (9) percent Medicaid births; (10) percent of children age 0 to 21 eligible to receive Medicaid; (11) those accessing Medicaid services; (12) percent of children eligible to receive free and reduced meals; (13) number of youths under age 20 admitted to alcohol and drug treatment programs; and (14) percent of births to single teens. The report also presents statewide information in five areas: health, economic well-being, security, social behavior, and education, as well as a new section, "What's New," presenting data in 13 previously unreported areas such as DARE, Head Start, and dental screening. (EAJ)

As a step toward developing a standardized measure for evaluating the impact of child protective services, three indices were developed: the abuse index, the neglect index, and the sexual abuse index. Each is composed of physical indicators of the problem and social and behavioral indicators found to be statistically correlated with physical indicators. Adding and averaging the number of indicators found in a sample of cases before and after service delivery gives a measure of the impact of protective services (in other words, a protection score). Potential users of the system are provided in this manual with step-by-step information needed to use and adapt these protection indicators to measure the impact of child protective services. Sections of the manual provide background information related to impact evaluation, as well as guidelines for (1) designing an indicator/index evaluation, (2) training evaluators and pretesting the research, (3) using the existing indices, (4) constructing a new index, and (5) applying the indices. Indices are intended to be easy-to-use; evaluators can record the presence of indicators before and after service delivery as they read and review case records. Appended are the data collection instrument, formulas for all three indices, a list of indicators of abuse and neglect with operational definitions, and a list of program variables that can be used with the indicator/index approach. (RH)

Intended for program directors, this manual offers guidelines for developing a program using volunteer parent aides to provide personal, supportive services to other parents who abuse or neglect their children. Introductory materials describe dimensions of the problem of child abuse and neglect, and point out several ways volunteers can function as resources for parents and programs. The major portion of the manual describes three steps in developing a program to meet the needs of child protective-services clients: (1) contacting the local child protective-services agency (if there is one), (2) building a base of community support, and (3) developing a program model. Following a brief discussion of the first two steps, considerably more attention is given to the process of program model development. Recognizing the importance of program structure, providing a volunteer support structure, developing a program philosophy, identifying sources of program funding, planning for volunteer recruitment, designing volunteer training, and supporting volunteers with effective supervision are discussed. Appendices provide an address for further information, list volunteer programs in Region 6, and note sources of program funding. (RH)

This manual for child advocates in New York describes detailed procedures for organizing and operating citizen adoption groups and provides background information on the decision-making bodies, funding sources and resource organizations involved in adoptions. Procedures for changing bureaucracies and influencing legislation are emphasized. Information acquisition, processing and dissemination functions of adoption groups are specified. Parent, child, and agency relations as well as funding procedures and state and national organizations for child advocates are explored in the first part of the manual. Part 2 presents definitions of legal and organizational terms and expands acronyms. Also given are the authors' positions on issues concerning advocacy and adoptions; basic statistical information on children needing services; and brief descriptions of law, regulations and court decisions concerning child welfare. Sources of adoptive children and organizational resources for applicants are briefly described. Public officials and agencies who make decisions affecting adoption and foster care are listed and their positions defined. Funding procedures for child care services are outlined. A bibliography is included. (RH)