Find resources that summarize the effectiveness of general child abuse prevention programs and evaluations of specific types or models of prevention programs, including State and local examples.
Child Safety Forward Planning Year Evaluation Brief
Alliance for Strong Families and Communities (2021)
Presents the findings of the planning year for the Child Safety Forward Initiative, which received technical assistance from the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities to help establish learning exchanges and needs assessments and assist demonstration sites on implementing strategies to reduce occurrences of child abuse and neglect.
Improving Outcomes for Children Exposed to Violence
Schultz, Jaycox, Ayer, Messan Setodji, Mahmud, Kofner, & Barnes-Proby (2017)
Presents the key findings of an evaluation of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Safe Start Promising Approaches initiative, which provides community-based interventions for children exposed to violence in 10 diverse communities.
A Mixed Methods Evaluation of Early Childhood Abuse Prevention Within Evidence-Based Home Visiting Programs
Matone, Kellom, Griffis, Quarshie, Faerber, Gierlack, Whittaker, et al. (2018)
Maternal and Child Health Journal, 22(1)
Provides the results of a large scale, mixed-methods evaluation to determine the impact and context of early childhood home visiting rates of child abuse-related injury.
State and local examples
2018-2019 Evaluation Report (PDF - 15,301 KB)
Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention (2019)
Discusses outcomes of prevention strategies being implemented in the State of Alabama to strengthen families and support communities, specifically regarding families’ involvement with parent education and home visiting, respite care, fatherhood programs, and youth programs.
Child First Evaluation: Highlights of Outcome Data Analysis for Children and Families Served from August 2010 Through December 2019
Child First (2019)
Highlights years of outcome and implementation data gathered from an evaluation of the Child First program by the research and evaluation team at the University of Connecticut Health Center. The data showed overall improvement in at least one area for more than 80 percent of participants, and improvements by area were also analyzed.
Colorado Community Response Final Evaluation Report 2014-2018 (PDF - 1,803 KB)
Colorado Department of Human Services (2018)
Presents findings from an evaluation of the Colorado Community Response project, including implementation strategies, service array, the ability to engage families, and the types and frequency of services that families received.
Effective Components of School-Based Prevention Programs for Child Abuse: A Meta-Analytic Review
Gubbels, van der Put, Stams, & Assink (2021)
Clinical Child and Family Psychological Review, 24
Details the results of a study conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of school-based prevention programs for child abuse. The study found that prevention programs that addressed the social-emotional skills of children were more effective. The study also found other positive effects on knowledge and self-protection skills for children.
Healthy Outcomes Through Prevention & Early Support (PDF - 7,300 KB)
Faulkner, Gerlach, Tennant, & McKerlie (2018)
University of Texas at Austin
Presents the findings of the Healthy Outcomes Through Prevention and Early Support program in Texas, which focuses on connecting families to evidence-based parenting programs and supporting child welfare communities to increase the knowledge and impact of child maltreatment prevention programming.
Montana Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Evaluation (PDF - 852 KB)
Klika (2017)
University of Montana
Shares the findings of an evaluation in the State of Montana that focused on identifying State and local resources pertaining to child abuse and neglect prevention and the protective capacity factors that families had to reduce the incidents of child abuse and neglect.
Parenting Now! Annual Report: 2018–2019 (PDF - 5,222 KB)
Presents an annual report for the years 2016–2017 for the Parenting Now! child abuse prevention program in Eugene, OR. The report includes personal stories of mothers who found help through the program and statistics about numbers of parents, children, and families served.
Planning to Prevent Child Maltreatment (PDF - 2,875 KB)
co4kids.org (2019)
Shares an update of the State of Colorado’s Child Maltreatment Framework for Action and its focus on reducing instances of child maltreatment and mobilizing communities to successfully reduce cases of child abuse and neglect.
Social Programs That Work Review (PDF - 348 KB)
Laura and John Arnold Foundation (2017)
Provides a summary of an evaluation of the Triple P System parenting program implemented in 18 counties in South Carolina. A cost-benefit analysis of the program and recommendations for study replication are also presented.