Using prevention science to reduce the risk of child neglect

Child neglect is the most prevalent and least understood form of child maltreatment both in Australia (AIHW 2007) and the United States (USDHHS 2008). There is a general consensus that because child neglect is multidimensional, no one method will be effective in preventing it. Use of prevention science principles (Cole et al. 1993), which focus on enhancing protective factors and decreasing risk factors, should be used to target families and communities, but be applied in such a way as to individualise and recognise their differences. This paper uses the stages of prevention science to illustrate the development, implementation, and evaluation of a community based prevention program called Family Connections (DePanfilis &; Dubowitz 2005; DePanfilis, Dubowitz &; Kunz 2008). Implications of this process are considered in the context of recommendations of the World Health Organization for preventing child maltreatment (Butchart, Harvey, Mian &; Furniss 2006).