The Biological Embedding of Child Abuse and Neglect - Implications for Policy and Practice

This Social Policy Report is based on the proceedings of an expert panel meeting convened by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in partnership within the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), with the National Institutes of Health, DHHS. The authors of this SPR issue discuss the long-term and detrimental consequences of children who are not protected from abuse and neglect, particularly the impact on brain and behavioral development and poor functioning overall. They highlight the importance of broadening the scope of child welfare beyond child protection to include child well-being. A focus on child well-being would require integrated services, wherein com­prehensive mental and physical health care are routinely offered to victims of mal­treatment and case workers, pediatricians, and psychologists would work as teams to determine how best to deliver care to children and families in the child welfare system.