The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare

This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cachildwelfareclearinghousetest.org/

Interventions for Neglect

1. Well Supported - Effective Practice
2. Supported - Efficacious Practice
3. Promising Practice
4. Effectiveness Unknown
5. Fails to Demonstrate Effect
6. Concerning Practice
See Scientific Rating Scale

Here are your search results for programs in the Topical Area - Interventions for Neglect:

Results are shown only for the programs that have been rated in each category. You can see the full rating scale on the right.

You can also read why the Advisory Comittee chose Interventions for Neglect as a topic area at the bottom of this page.


Programs with a Scientific Rating of 3 - Promising Practice

  1. Childhaven Therapeutic Child Care
  2. Family Connections (FC)
  3. HOMEBUILDERS
  4. Project SafeCare

See why Interventions for Neglect was selected by the Advisory Committee.

What is Neglect as it relates to Child Welfare?

Within the minimum standards set by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), each State is responsible for providing its own definitions of child abuse and neglect. The examples provided below are for general informational purposes only. Not all States' definitions will include all of the examples listed below, and individual States' definitions may cover additional situations not mentioned here. Neglect is failure to provide for a child's basic needs. Neglect may be:

  • Physical (e.g., failure to provide necessary food or shelter, or lack of appropriate supervision)
  • Medical (e.g., failure to provide necessary medical or mental health treatment)
  • Educational (e.g., failure to educate a child or attend to special education needs)
  • Emotional (e.g., inattention to a child's emotional needs, failure to provide psychological care, or permitting the child to use alcohol or other drugs)

These situations do not always mean a child is neglected. Sometimes cultural values, the standards of care in the community, and poverty may be contributing factors, indicating the family is in need of information or assistance. When a family fails to use information and resources, and the child's health or safety is at risk, then child welfare intervention may be required. http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/whatiscan.cfm

Why Neglect was chosen as a topic by the Advisory Committee?

Child neglect was chosen as a topic by the Advisory Committee because, while it is the most common type of child maltreatment, it frequently goes unreported and, historically, has not been acknowledged or publicized as greatly as child abuse. In addition, the effects of neglect can be just as detrimental, and as it relates to children’s early brain development, even more detrimental than physical or sexual abuse. Child welfare professionals need help identifying new and effective ways to target and serve at-risk families so that they can:

  • minimize the risk that could lead to child neglect
  • equip families with the skills and resources they need to ensure that children’s basic needs are met, and
  • decrease the effects of neglect on the developing child.

Information on successful interventions, and how these interventions can be replicated in other jurisdictions, will provide important new tools for combating the serious problem of child neglect in this country.

Pamela Day, MSW
Co-Director Child Welfare Information Gateway