skip to body
Skip to main content
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
  • Administration for Children & Families
  • Children's Bureau
Child Welfare Information Gateway
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   

Home Topics Publications Library State Resources More Tools & Resources News & Events
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Free Subscriptions
  • Resources in Spanish
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Resources in Spanish
  • Shopping Cart
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Family-Centered Practice
      • Philosophy and Key Elements of Family-Centered Practice
      • Family-Centered Practice Across the Service Continuum
      • Engaging Families
      • Family-Centered Casework Practice
      • Family Group Decision-Making
      • Engaging Communities to Support Families
      • Creating a Family-Centered Agency Culture
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Definitions of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Identification of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Risk Factors That Contribute to Child Abuse and Neglect
      • People Who Engage in Child Abuse or Neglect
      • Impact of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Child Abuse & Neglect Fatalities
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
      • Overview: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Promoting Child & Family Well-Being
      • Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities
      • Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Programs
      • Developing & Sustaining Prevention Programs
      • Evidence-Based Practice for Child Abuse Prevention
      • Evaluating Prevention Programs
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Introduction to Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
      • Assessment in Child Protection
      • Differential Response in Child Protective Services
      • Child Protection Casework Practice
      • Responding to Child Maltreatment Near Fatalities and Fatalities
      • Trauma-Informed Practice in Child Welfare
      • Collaborative Responses to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
      • Supporting Families With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
      • Introduction to Family Support and Preservation
      • In-Home Services Involved With Child Protection
      • Family Support Services
      • Resources for Managers of Family Support and Preservation Services
      • Family Preservation Services
    • Out-of-Home Care
      • National Foster Care Month
      • Overview
      • Foster Care
      • Group and Residential Care
      • Kinship Care
      • Casework Practice in Out-of-Home Care
      • Transition to Adulthood and Independent Living
      • Placement Decisions
      • Resources for Foster Families
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Overview
      • Reunifying Families
      • Recruiting and Retaining Resource Families
      • Permanency With Relatives and Kin
      • Guardianship
      • Permanency for Specific Populations
      • Legal and Court Issues in Permanency
      • Interjurisdictional Placements
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families in Permanency Planning
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families After Permanency
      • Resources for Administrators and Managers About Permanency
      • Resources for Families About Permanency
    • Adoption
      • National Adoption Month
      • Children's Bureau Adoption Call to Action
      • All-In Foster Adoption Challenge
      • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
      • Introduction to Adoption
      • Ethical Issues in Adoption
      • For Adopted People
      • For Adoption Program Managers & Administrators
      • For Expectant Parents Considering Adoption and Birth Parents
      • How to Adopt
      • Laws Related to Adoption
      • Parenting After Adoption
      • Postplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Preplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Search & Reunion
    • Management & Supervision
      • Administering & Managing Child Welfare Agencies & Programs
      • Child Welfare Practice Improvement
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Ethical Practice & Client Rights
      • Evaluating Program and Practice Effectiveness
      • Funding
      • Information Systems & Data
      • Supervising Child Welfare Services
      • System Reform
      • Training
      • Workforce
    • Systemwide
      • Assessment
      • Behavioral Health & Wellness
      • Courts
      • Cultural Responsiveness
      • Diverse Populations and Communities
      • Domestic Violence
      • Human Trafficking
      • Laws & Policies
      • Service Array
      • Statistics
      • Well-Being
      • Youth
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Topic
    • Browse by Title
    • índice de Títulos en Español (Spanish Title Index)
  • Library
    • Search Our Library
    • Library Policy
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals Search
    • State-Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Resources From the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Discretionary Grants
      • Children's Bureau Timeline
      • Children's Bureau Video Series
      • The Children's Bureau Legacy: Ensuring the Right to Childhood
      • The Story of the Children's Bureau
    • Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast Series
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Webinars
    • Family Engagement Inventory
  • News & Events
    • Adoption Triad
    • Free Subscriptions
    • Children's Bureau Express (CBX)
    • The Grantee Connection
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • Home
  • Topics
  • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
  • Overview: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect

Overview: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect

Prevention is the best hope for reducing child abuse and neglect and improving the lives of children and families. Strengthening families and preventing child abuse requires a shared commitment among individuals and organizations in every community. The following resources discuss the framework for child abuse and neglect prevention; provide information on what to do when children are at risk for abuse or neglect; and visioning or re-visioning prevention of child abuse & neglect. 

  • What is prevention and why is it important?
  • Framework for prevention of child maltreatment
  • When children are at risk
  • Federal agencies associated with preventing child abuse and neglect

Child Abuse and Neglect
healthychildren.org (2022)
Shares an overview of the risk factors, symptoms, and signs of child abuse and neglect as well as outcomes associated with children and youth who experience child abuse and neglect and how to seek help.

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: Keeping Children Safe and Strengthening Families and Communities (PDF - 1,432 KB)
Casey Family Programs (2019)
Describes the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), including background information on the law, national and State-specific funding levels, and how CAPTA influences programs to keep children safe and strengthen families and communities.

Child Maltreatment Prevention: Past, Present, and Future

Series Title
Issue Briefs
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability
View
Download (PDF - 2,150KB)
Order (Free)
Year Published
2017
Discusses the importance of prevention as a critical component of the nation’s child protection system and examines the history of child abuse prevention, the scope of the problem today, ways in which quality programs are identified and implemented, promising prevention strategies, and issues for future prevention efforts. It outlines programs and strategies that are proving beneficial in reducing the likelihood of child maltreatment, such as public awareness efforts, parent education, home visitation, and community prevention efforts.

How Can Child Welfare Leaders and Providers Reimagine Support for Children and Families?
Casey Family Programs (2021)
Discusses how data, public perception, and policy changes can be used to pivot the child welfare system to increasingly provide child maltreatment prevention and family support services.

Major Federal Legislation Concerned With Child Protection, Child Welfare, and Adoption

Series Title
Factsheets
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability
View
Download (PDF - 453KB)
Order (Free)
Year Published
2019
Presents a summary of Federal legislation since 1974 that has had a significant impact on the child welfare field. It provides an overview of each act and its major provisions. To browse or search the summaries of acts included in this publication, visit the Major Federal Legislation Index and Search. The full text of the acts included in this publication can be found on Information Gateway's Index of Federal Child Welfare Laws. The PDF version presents an overview of the legislative history of the included acts. For a Spanish summary of the text related to the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 included in this publication, see Ley de 2008 Sobre el Promover de las Conexiones Para Lograr el Éxito y el Aumento de las Adopciones: Un Resumen.

Overview of Child Neglect and Abuse
Pekarsky (2021)
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation
Provides an overview of child abuse and neglect, including what constitutes abuse and neglect, diagnosing abuse and neglect, symptoms associated with abuse and neglect, and ways to provide treatment.

Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect: A Technical Package for Policy, Norm, and Programmatic Activities (PDF - 3,997 KB)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016)
Offers a compilation of evidence-based strategies to help prevent child abuse and neglect, including strengthening economic supports for families, changing social norms to support parents, participating in quality early child care and education, and enhancing parenting skills. The resource also includes interventions to reduce future risk.

Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021)
Defines child abuse and neglect and how it is a large-scale problem and provides strategies for how to prevent it.

Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

Series Title
Factsheets
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability
View
Download (PDF - 236KB)
Order (Free)
Disponibilidad
Ver
Versión para imprimir (PDF - 378KB)
Ordene (Gratis)
Year Published
2018
Provides information on how communities, community leaders, and individual citizens can strengthen families, protect children, and prevent child abuse and neglect.

Prevention Planning into Action
Capacity Building Center for States
Provides resources and tools to support and engage agencies and their staff in prevention planning.

(Back to Top)

Visioning/Re-Visioning Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect

Building an “UnSystem” to Promote Primary Prevention 
Children’s Bureau Express, 22(6)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2021)
Guides child welfare agencies on how to change their system to one with the main goal of keeping families together through primary prevention of child abuse and neglect. This type of system is locally based, antiracist, and requires a shift in thinking about child welfare.

How Can Child Welfare Leaders and Providers Reimagine Support for Children and Families?
Casey Family Programs (2021)
Discusses how data, public perception, and policy changes can be used to pivot the child welfare system to increasingly provide child maltreatment prevention and family support services.

Leading With Prevention
American Public Human Services Association (2021)
Access resources for State and local leaders to help advance prevention strategies to better build child and family well-being.

National Partnership to Reinvent Child Welfare Expands to Additional States; Now in 22 Locales
Casey Family Programs (2021)
Describes the Thriving Families, Safer Children initiative and how it has expanded its reach to include child welfare jurisdictions in 22 States.

Transforming Child Welfare: Prioritizing Prevention, Racial Equity, and Advancing Child and Family Well-Being
Thomas & Halbert (2021)
National Council on Family Relations
Explains how primary prevention and race equity should be prioritized in the child welfare system. The brief outlines how prevention programs should be expanded so that they are accessible before families are at serious risk of experiencing maltreatment and instructs child welfare leaders to confront and dismantle racist policies and programs and partner with communities of color to enact change.

Visioning for Prevention: Protecting Children Through Strengthening Families
Capacity Building Center for States
Offers a collection of various resources about how agencies can collaborate with families, communities, and service providers to share their vision and develop strategies to support families and build capacity. 
 

(Back to Top)

Thriving Children and Families: Prevention with Purpose. #ChildAbusePreventionMonth

Spotlight On

FamilyFirstAct.org

Prevent Child Abuse America

Related Content

Definitions of Child Abuse & Neglect

Frequently Asked Questions: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect

Framework for Prevention of Child Maltreatment

Children’s Bureau

Child Welfare Information Gateway is a service of the

  • Children’s Bureau
  • Administration for Children and Families
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
↑ Back to top
  • HOME
  • TOPICS
    • Family-Centered Practice
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
    • Out-of-Home Care
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
    • Adoption
    • Management & Supervision
    • Systemwide
  • National Initiatives
    • National Adoption Month
    • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
    • National Foster Care Month
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Title
    • Browse by Topic
    • Índice de Títulos en Español
  • Library
    • Search the Library
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals
    • State Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Children's Bureau Resources
    • Family Engagement Inventory
  • NEWS AND EVENTS
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Free Subscriptions
    • Event Calendar
  • ABOUT US
    • How to Report Child Abuse or Neglect
    • Find Help With a Personal Situation
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Glossary
    • Search A to Z
  • Contact Us
    • 1-800-394-3366
    • info@childwelfare.gov
    • Subscribe to Free Updates
    • Chat With Us
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on YouTube
  • POLICIES & HELPFUL LINKS
    • Disclaimer and Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility
    • FOIA requests
    • No FEAR Act data
    • Office of the Inspector General
    • Performance reports
    • Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
    • USA.gov
    • Download Acrobat Reader
  • ↑ Back to top