Assessing Child Maltreatment Reports

The Problem of False Allegations

Jerome Beker, Michael Robin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Topic: Psychology
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317773207
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Psychology

This seminal book in the literature of child protective services stimulates critical thinking and informed discussion for those professionals and educators concerned with the quality of children's protective services. The first book of its kind to present scholarly reports on false allegations, Assessing Child Maltreatment Reports tackles the age-old problem of deciding which reports, verbal or written, represent truth and which represent falsehood. When one deals with accusations in the area of child maltreatment, special problems are posed. This vital resource brings home the complexity and seriousness of confronting the need to separate true reports from false reports. Given the serious consequences of reports of maltreatment, determining the accuracy or inaccuracy of such reports is of major critical importance to all concerned and the parents, children, and professionals directly involved. This book deals effectively and practically with the everyday work of assessing the validity and reliability of maltreatment reports and guides professionals through rough waters of finding truth with helpful research.This courageous book provides hope for establishing a deeper understanding of the broad system of child protection and consequently, enables professionals to better handle individual crises and cases. Containing a range of chapters--authored by leading academic researchers and practitioners in child welfare services in the United States--which examine the policy and practice issues related to false allegations of child abuse and neglect, this volume provides guideposts for further research and discussion. College and university students in child welfare and related programs, human service practitioners working in child protective and welfare services, and the larger public--both parents and professionals working with children--who have an interest in this important issue, will find Assessing Child Maltreatment Reports a compassionate approach to a sensitive issue.

Index

Abandonment

definition, 42

screening for, 67, 68

Acting out, 53

ACTION for Child Protection, 77, 79, 87–88n.

Adolescents

acting out by, 53

false abuse allegations by, 101, 184

in foster care homes, 53, 221, 225

sexual abuse of, 221, 225

Adoption, by foster parents, 225–226

Advocacy, 40

Aid to Dependent Children, 10

Anna O., 153

Anxiety, separation-related, 171–172, 173, 181

Anxiety disorders, 147

Battered child, 11

Battered Child, The (Helfert and Kempe), 12

“Battered Child Syndrome, The” (Kemp et al), 3

Behavioral indicators, of child abuse, 44–45, 49

Bereavement, grief response, 256–257

Bias, in child abuse assessment, 78–79, 95–97

Buckey, Peggy, 17

Buckey, Raymond, 17

Carbino, Rosemarie, 23–24

Certification, of foster care homes, 213–217

decertification, 21

recertification, 215–216

Child abuse, 1–2. See also Sexual abuse

atrocities of, 11–12

definition, 40–41

ambiguity of, 5–6, 7, 11

of Federal Child Abuse and Treatment Act, 40–41

investigation-related, 63

screening-related, 63

denial of, 24

in foster care homes. See Foster care homes, child maltreatment in

incidence, 7–9, 13–16

institutional, 38–39

legislation regarding, 3, 6, 40–41

as moral panic, 9–13

psychopathological model, 3–5

severity, 79–80

as social problem, 2–5

social psychology of, 5

as valence issue, 4–5

Child abuse investigations, 35–50. See also Screening, of child abuse reports

agency priorities, 54–5...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• About the Editor
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Historical Overview
• Policy Issues
• Clinical Evaluations of Sexual Abuse
• Sexual Abuse Allegations in Custody/Visitation Disputes
• Allegations of Maltreatment in Family Foster Homes
• Index