The Vermont State Initiative On Protecting Abused And Neglected Children

"Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities" is the final report of the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, as mandated by the Protect Our Kids Act of 2012. This report discusses the Commission’s findings and presents both a comprehensive national strategy for fundamental reform and recommendations specific to populations in need of special attention, including children currently known to child protective services agencies and at high risk for fatality, American Indian/Alaska Native children, and African American children. The report includes recommendations for actions by the executive branch, Congress, and states and counties that the Commission believes will be most effective in ending these tragic deaths, today and into the future. Legislators and policymakers at the State and Federal-level, plus advocates, researchers, and academics may be interested in these findings. Additionally, college students pursuing coursework in Social Work, Sociology, Native American and African American Studies, and children's health and psychotherapy programs may find these findings and recommendations helpful.

Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves-they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains-including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems-and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response.

The process of adoption - be it an open or a closed adoption, domestic or international - is seldom simple, short, or standardized. It can often take many years of frustrating and expensive searching before parents can bring an infant or child home, and once they do, they face a whole new set of challenges as they learn together to be a family. The Unofficial Guide to Adopting a Child gives prospective adoptive parents the inside scoop on: * How long it will really take to adopt, and how much it will cost * What the challelnges are for single people, older couples, and gay lesbian couples seeking to adopt * What the all-important home study entails -- from writing the autobiographical statement to creating a child-friendly atmosphere * What questions to ask agency personnel and birth parents -- and what questions to refuse to answer