Child Abuse And Neglect: A Report on Seven Demonstration Projects*

The author presents the results of an experimental program initiated for the purposes of providing comprehensive psychiatric assistance to abused and neglected children and their families. Designed jointly by Massachusetts’ U.S.A. Departments of Mental Health and Social Services, the projects are also a demonstration of interagency case collaboration. The paper briefly describes the program philosophy, service delivery strategy, and staffing pattern. Through analysis of data of 332 families and 1,118 individuals treated in the first year, profiles of the abusing/neglecting family, their children, and the adult perpetrator of the situation are developed. Implications for mental health care, the cooperative endeavours of mental health and child welfare agencies, and difficulties in measuring treatment outcomes of this population are discussed.