Before Substantiation: The Role for Child Welfare Agencies in Preventing Maltreatment. JCPR Working Paper.

Over the past 30 years, the political response to child maltreatment and its prevention has experienced periods of frantic activity, often followed by long periods of benign neglect. To an extent, this pattern reflects deep differences among child welfare advocates, researchers and practitioners on how best to proceed. While most everyone agrees that "it shouldnt hurt to be a child," how to prevent this hurt and at what cost is less clear. Significant tensions exist between the relative importance of treatment versus prevention and the appropriate role for public child welfare in protecting children and supporting families at risk. Efforts to resolve these tensions often involve child welfare agency directors and prevention advocates as combatants rather than allies. The absence of an effective partnership between all those involved in formal and informal child protection not only diminishes the potential impact of each response system but also leaves many children, particularly those in resource-poor communities, with few viable alternatives to mandatory child protection. This paper seeks to better understand the factors that have contributed to the absence of more integrated policy development and the opportunities that might exist for better future collaboration. Following a brief historical overview, the paper explores the logic, empirical evidence, and limitations for three strategic paths being promoted to construct a more inclusive vision for child welfare agencies. Specifically, the paper examines differential strategies for responding to child abuse reports, out-basing child welfare workers in community agencies, and establishing community partnerships for broadening responsibility for child protection. The paper concludes with a discussion of the additional research, practice, and policy questions that need to be addressed to more appropriately position the child welfare system within the paradigm of community child protection. (Contains 66 references.) (Author/HTH)