Skip to page content

Child Abuse and Neglect

Featured

Children who experience physical or mental abuse or neglect face numerous challenges as they develop, and these difficulties often worsen if and when they reach adulthood. RAND research on child abuse and neglect includes studies on the physical and mental effects on children, preventing and reporting child abuse, exposure to violence in foster care, and disparities among sociodemographic groups.

Essay
How the Child-Welfare System Could Protect More Kids and Save Billions of Dollars
It costs billions of dollars each year to investigate child abuse reports, counsel and support families, and provide foster homes for kids at risk. A greater focus on preventing abuse and neglect, and on placing children with relatives rather than strangers, could improve thousands of young lives.
Apr 25, 2018
Project
CBITS Offers Online Training and Support to Improve Mental Health of Children and Families
The Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program is a school-based, group, and individual intervention. CBITS is designed to reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and behavioral problems, and to improve grades and attendance, peer and parent support, and coping skills.
Sep 11, 2012

Explore Child Abuse and Neglect

Research Brief
Domestic Abuse Prevention and Outreach Approaches for the Military Community
This study focused on identifying strategies to help prevent domestic abuse among service members and their spouses or partners before it occurs and strategies for outreach to high-risk groups that could be effective in the military environment.
May 16, 2023
Report
Preventing Domestic Abuse in the U.S. Armed Forces
Domestic abuse has severe consequences for service members, their families, and, potentially, unit readiness. What strategies could help prevent domestic abuse before it occurs and help the military with communication to reach individuals who might have risk factors for domestic abuse?
May 16, 2023
Research Brief
Labor Trafficking in the United States
The U.S. Department of State has estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year to perform bonded or forced labor. The dimensions of this problem are growing, making it more challenging to study and address.
May 9, 2023
Report
Current and Future Research on Labor Trafficking in the United States
Reducing the prevalence of human trafficking is a national priority. In this report, researchers recommend a research agenda for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to address labor trafficking policy and enforcement.
May 9, 2023
Journal Article
Enhancing Early Engagement (E3) in Mental Health Services Training for Children's Advocacy Center's Victim Advocates: Feasibility Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
This feasibility study protocol describes our plans to develop, implement, and evaluate web-based and consultative training for Children's Advocacy Center Victim Advocates to enhance early engagement in evidence-based youth mental health services.
Jan 7, 2022
Report
Availability of Family Violence Services for Military Service Members and Their Families
The authors examine resources available to military-affiliated victims and perpetrators of child abuse/neglect and domestic abuse, barriers to utilization, and challenges faced in addressing these issues, and recommend ways to improve services.
Nov 25, 2019
Journal Article
Improving the Child Welfare System to Respond to the Needs of Substance-Exposed Infants
To realize the gains envisioned by recent legislation, the Administration and Congress should prioritize additional funding to modernize our child welfare system to meet the unique needs of families affected by substance misuse.
Jul 17, 2019
News Release
Reforms to U.S. Child Welfare System Could Reduce Costs and Improve Outcomes
Expanding prevention and treatment services in the U.S. child welfare system could improve the lives of children and reduce total lifetime expenses of such services by 3 to 7 percent.
Dec 11, 2017
Project
Policy Options for Improving Child Welfare
Every year, about 3 million children in the U.S. face abuse or neglect. Expanding prevention and treatment services in the child welfare system could improve the lives of children and reduce lifetime expenses by 3 to 7 percent.
Dec 11, 2017
Research Brief
Improving Children's Lives: Balancing Investments in Prevention and Treatment in the Child Welfare System
Increasing prevention and treatment improves children's experience and long-term outcomes while paying for itself by reducing lifetime child welfare system costs.
Dec 11, 2017
Report
Improving Child Welfare Outcomes
Policies aimed at increasing prevention and kinship care in the child welfare system improve children's experience and long-term outcomes. This approach is also cost effective, reducing total spending by 3 to 7 percent.
Dec 11, 2017
News Release
News Release for RAND Report on U.S. Child Welfare Reforms
The report on the U.S. child welfare system described in RAND's May 23, 2017 news release has been withdrawn pending further review.
May 23, 2017
Report
Enhancing Professionalism in the U.S. Air Force
This report considers the U.S. Air Force definition of professionalism as a starting point to address the question: What can the Air Force do to increase the professionalism of its personnel?
Apr 14, 2017
Journal Article
Early Life Adversity and Adult Biological Risk Profiles
Authors determine whether there is a relationship between early life adversity (ELA) and biological parameters known to predict health risks and to examine the extent to which circumstances in midlife mediate this relationship.
Feb 19, 2015
Journal Article
Early Intervention for Abused Children in the School Setting
This chapter describes the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program, how it addresses child abuse specifically, the theoretical rationale for the program, and the evidence supporting its effectiveness.
Nov 21, 2014
News Release
Poor Health of Irish Immigrants in England May Be Linked to Childhood Abuse
Explanations about the struggles among Irish immigrants that rely exclusively on troubled assimilation may be missing a significant part of the story. A large fraction of them suffered from well-documented physical and sexual abuse among Irish children born between 1920 and 1960.
Dec 17, 2013
Journal Article
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Risk of Physical Violence in Adolescent Dating Relationships
This study evaluates associations of commonly co-occurring childhood adversities with physical violence in dating relationships to identify potential strategies for refining and targeting dating violence prevention programmes.
Nov 1, 2011
Report
National Evaluation of Safe Start Promising Approaches: Assessing Program Outcomes
Shares the results of Safe Start Promising Approaches, a community-based initiative that implemented and evaluated promising and evidence-based programs to prevent and reduce the impact of children's exposure to violence in 15 U.S. program sites.
Aug 25, 2011
Journal Article
An Action Model of Socially Disruptive Behaviors Committed by Persons with Severe Mental Illness: The Role of Self-Reported Childhood Abuse and Suspiciousness-Hostility
The authors' results encourage further exploration of the role of childhood maltreatment in the adaptation of people with severe mental illness.
Jan 1, 2003

1
2
Next

RAND Topic:
Child Abuse and Neglect

Research conducted by