Preventing Child Maltreatment Through Social Support: A Critical Analysis

Ross A. Thompson′s social-policy expertise illuminates the limitations of formulating a child protection policy agenda on current research without concern for the specific populations to be served. Thompson details an ambitious agenda for child welfare reform by calling for a multistrategy approach, with specific reference to the 1990 proposals of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, with which he has been intimately connected. . . . This masterful work weaves together theory and application about how to prevent child maltreatment. Good references. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Choice Recently, there has been considerable interest in providing social support to abuse-prone families as a means of preventing child abuse and neglect. Partly due to both reports that social support programs can indeed help parents and the theoretical underpinnings of these programs, social support has become the cause celebre among those who are seeking more effective new avenues to abuse prevention. However, many important issues must be considered in translating this general idea into effective public policy initiatives related to abuse prevention. Preventing Child Maltreatment Through Social Support carefully considers the various factors affecting the success of social support programs and provides the path to designing effective--and enduring--interventions. Offering the reader a critical analysis of current research concerning social networks and functions of social support, this perceptive book fosters an understanding of maltreatment, socially isolated families, and the dynamics of help giving and receiving. Ross A. Thompson moves deftly from theory to practice, including detailed lessons from applications such as home visitation and other intensive family strategies. This volume stimulates thinking about integrating research, policy, and practice, and in a progressive move, envisions social support within the larger context of child welfare reform. Dedicated to making social support programs theoretically grounded and thus able to withstand the rigor of application, this book provides a much-needed resource to practitioners, researchers, and students in social work, family studies, nursing/public health, and clinical and counseling psychology as well as educators and policy makers. "I am very impressed with Preventing Child Maltreatment Through Social Support. I think Ross A. Thompson has tackled a complex and important subject, producing a book that both practitioners and policymakers will find useful in their efforts to construct more effective programs to prevent child abuse. This book fills a unique gap in the child abuse prevention literature." --Deborah Daro, Director, Center on Child Abuse Prevention Research, Chicago "This book provides a coherent road map to the role of social support in dealing with the problem of child maltreatment. It is well researched and well thought out in every respect. Preventing Child Maltreatment Through Social Support is well digested intellectually: It covers the material in detail but is not overcome by detail." --James Garbarino, Director, Family Life Development Center, Cornell University