Sara Gable

Treatment of maternal addiction to prevent child abuse and neglect

Substance abusing mothers are a population neglected by the broader fields of substance abuse research and treatment. They are also at special risk for child abuse and neglect. This paper proposes a treatment model, drawn from the child maltreatment literature, that is also strongly supported by substance abuse research. Barriers within the substance abuse field to the adoption of treatment methods suggested by this model are considered and methods of surmounting those barriers are described. Finally, the need for scientists in the child maltreatment field to draw from the expertise of substance abuse researchers and clinicians is illustrated by data from an ongoing project; these data document the strong link between risk for maltreatment and a history of substance abuse. The need for future collaboration between the two fields is indicated by both literatures and strongly urged here.

Holistic Injury Prevention

Some readers will immediately recognize the relevance of a chapter on childhood injury prevention to the field of child abuse and neglect, whereas others will be surprised at its inclusion in such a book. One of the goals of this chapter, therefore, is to make all interested readers aware of the important connections between these two fields, and to convince researchers that each area has much to contribute to the other. The leading killer of children in this nation is trauma. Children experience physical trauma in a variety of ways, most of which are related to how our nation, states, communities, and families protect children and to what we believe about protecting children. This chapter argues that because of common etiological factors, difficulty in actively distinguishing among types of trauma, and similarity in effective interventions, efforts to unite these research endeavors can strengthen both areas and serve to more adequately protect children in the future from injury, the foremost threat to their health and welfare.

Research-Based Parenting Education for Divorcing Parents: A University-Community Collaboration

Focus on Kids (FOK) is a mandated parenting education program for divorcing parents in central Missouri. Although the program is facilitated by faculty in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) at the University of Missouri, its ultimate success relies on an extensive collaboration with many community partners.

School-age and adolescent children's perceptions of family functioning in neglectful and non-neglectful families

OBJECTIVE Examined the question, do neglected childrens perceptions of their own familys functioning acknowledge the differences that exist between neglectful and non-neglectful families? METHOD An inter-rater consistency design was used; child and caseworker reports of family functioning in neglectful (n = 33) and non-neglectful families (n = 34) were compared. RESULTS After establishing significant differences between the socioemotional and physical environment provided by neglectful and non-neglectful families, the results indicated that children from neglectful families perceived a higher level of quality in family functioning that was not reported by caseworkers or supported by other measures. CONCLUSIONS Implications for designing effective interventions for school-age and adolescent children from neglectful families are discussed.

The Child and Adult Care Food Program and Food Insecurity

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides cash reimbursement to family day care, child-care centers, homeless shelters, and after-school programs for meals and snacks served to children. Despite young children’s known vulnerability to fluctuations in nutritional intake, prior literature has largely neglected the contributions of the CACFP to reducing household food insecurity. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), we examine the association between CACFP provider participation and food insecurity, controlling for the nonrandom selection process into child-care centers that participate in CACFP. We find that accessing child care through providers that participate in the CACFP results in a small reduction in the risk of household food insecurity. Given the known cognitive and health consequences associated with food insecurity during early childhood, our results indicate the importance of improving access to the CACFP.