Child Welfare Information Gateway
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: Out-of-Home Care
      • 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: Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Reunifying Families
      • Recruiting and Retaining Resource Families
      • Permanency With Relatives and Kin
      • Guardianship
      • Permanency for Specific Youth 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
      • All-In Foster Adoption Challenge
      • Children's Bureau Adoption Call to Action
      • 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
      • Preplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Postplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Search & Reunion in Adoption
    • 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
    • Library Services
    • Library Search Help
  • 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
      • The Story of the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Video Series
    • Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast Series
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Webinars
    • Family Engagement Inventory
  • News & Events
    • Free Subscriptions
    • Adoption Triad
    • Children's Bureau Express (CBX)
    • The Grantee Connection
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • Home
  • Topics
  • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
  • Assessment in Child Protection
  • Recurrence of Child Abuse or Neglect

Recurrence of Child Abuse or Neglect

The goal of child protective services is to identify, assess, and provide services to protect children, preserve families whenever possible, and prevent further maltreatment. It is important for child welfare practitioners to increase their understanding of the factors that contribute to patterns of maltreatment within families. This will enable child welfare workers, family support staff, and organizations to promote protective factors and address risk factors more effectively in ways that can benefit all families. Use these resources to help understand reoccurrences of child abuse or neglect and the interventions used to reduce recurrence of child abuse and neglect. Resources include State and local examples.

Latent Class Analysis Risk Profiles: An Effective Method to Predict a First Re-Report of Maltreatment?  
Kim, Jonson-Reid, Kohl, Chiang, Drake, Brown, McBride, & Guo (2020)
Evaluation and Program Planning, 80
Presents the results of a study that uses a person-centered approach to identify families at low and high risk of recurrence of child maltreatment. Findings showed that using a person-centered assessment may be helpful for child welfare agencies wanting to target resources to the highest-need families and prevent maltreatment recurrence.

Parenting Programs for the Prevention of Child Physical Abuse Recurrence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PDF - 672 KB)
Vlahovicova, Melendez-Torres, Leijten, Knerr, & Gardner (2017)
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 20
Offers evidence supporting parental behavioral programs based on social learning theory to reduce the recurrence of child physical abuse.

Repeat Reports Among Cases Reported for Child Neglect: A Scoping Review
Jonson-Reid, Chiang, Kohl, Drake, Brown, Guo, Kim, & McBride (2019)
Child Abuse & Neglect, 92
Presents a review of studies of maltreatment recurrence with a focus on child neglect. The review aims to guide future research, child welfare practice, and policymaking by summarizing findings about the recurrence of neglect.

Sibling Child Protective Services Involvement Following a Child Maltreatment Fatality (PDF - 208 KB)
Corlis, Damashek, Meister, Richardson, & Bonner (2020)
Child Maltreatment, 25(1)
Examines the child protective services involvement of children who have had a sibling die from child maltreatment. Findings showed that surviving siblings were likely to be reported to child protective services and 81 percent of the original victims had siblings with subsequent maltreatment reports.

(Back to Top)

State and local examples

Child Maltreatment Re-Reporting, Recurrence, and Foster Care Re-Entry in Hennepin County (PDF - 4,093 KB)
University of Minnesota, Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (2020)
Shares the results of a study in Hennepin County, MN, that worked to identify interventions to address high rates of child maltreatment rereporting, recurrence, and foster care reentry. The study recommended three areas for practice improvement: administration, child welfare implementation, and the use of structured decision-making tools.

Reducing Maltreatment Recurrence Through Home Visitation: A Promising Intervention for Child Welfare Involved Families
Lee, Kirkland, Miranda-Julian, & Greene (2018)
Child Abuse & Neglect, 86
Investigates the long-term outcomes from a home visiting program, Healthy Families New York, and examines the program’s impact on preventing child maltreatment recurrence.

Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams for Families With Co-Occurring Substance Use and Child Maltreatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Hall, Kelmel, Huebner, Walton, & Barbee (2021)
Child Abuse & Neglect, 114
Discusses a study in Kentucky that investigated whether the Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) program had an impact on child welfare outcomes for families affected by substance use. Results showed that START reduced the recurrence of child maltreatment.

(Back to Top)

Spotlight On

Child Maltreatment Report 2020

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2022)

Related Content

Protective Factors to Promote Well-Being and Prevent Child Abuse & Neglect

Identification of Neglect

Preventing the Recurrence of Abuse or Neglect

Family Treatment Courts for Families Affected by Substance Use Disorders in Child Welfare

Risk Factors for Recurrence of Child Abuse and Neglect

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Children's Bureau - An office of the Administration for Children and Families

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
    • Information Gateway Podcast
    • Multimedia
    • Family Engagement Inventory
  • NEWS AND EVENTS
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • 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