Evaluating Child Abuse Prevention Programs

• NCJ Number: 195019
• Author(s): Adam M. Tomison
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 43 pages
• Corporate Author: National Child Protection Clearinghouse
• Sale Source: National Child Protection Clearinghouse
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Trom Issues in Child Abuse Prevention Number 12, Autumn 2000; downloaded May 29, 2002.

Annotation

This paper examines the current state of program evaluation as it is applied to the field of child abuse prevention, the extent to which empirical evaluation has been used, and the degree to which programs have been shown to be effective.

Abstract

Despite the vast number of program evaluations performed on a variety of child abuse prevention programs, and the general agreement that scientific evaluation should be an integral part of all prevention programs, very few rigorous evaluations have been done. Currently one of the best resources available for assessing the effectiveness of family violence prevention and treatment programs is the United States National Committee on the Assessment of Family Violence report developed for the United States National Research Council (1998). Home-visiting is very effective in detecting and identifying maltreating families and/or alleviating concerns once the cases are "known." The paper contains brief summaries of Australian research in prevention programs and a 1997 New South Wales assessment of 453 child abuse prevention programs operating in the State of New South Wales. Notes, references